After Math -Rise-
by SLITH
Summary: After the Divine Source is destroyed Lara chooses to relax in a tent, but Sofia pushes to help her with her injuries and things get heated. An old face returns for vengeance. Lara/Sofia.
1. Discovering

Sitting down in her tent, make that Sofia's tent, Lara lies back on her thin mattress and breathes a sigh of relief. Sofia's people have Ana locked up and bound to be sure she can't get away. It had been a long and tiring day for Lara with taking the Deathless Path to get to the Divine Source, fighting, climbing and running over and over again. The adrenaline fading away as Sofia steps into the tent and smiles at her.

"You look like a weight has lifted from your shoulders, no longer so tense," Sofia comments and Lara manages a small smile.

"That'll ware off soon," Lara says and Sofia gives her a quizzical look. "The scrapes and bruises will soon come into affect letting me know how much I abused my body these last few days," Lara gives off a light chuckle at the thought. The memories of Yamati and what she learned there to adapt quickly to survive, she didn't recognize herself in the mirror anymore.

"I've got a balm that will help with that, let me see your back," Sofia says as she goes into a tin under the table and next to the extra sleeping furs.

Lara closes her eyes, feeling the tiredness seeping in, "it's alright, a couple of good night's sleep and acetaminophen should do the trick in the end."

To that Lara got a cotton pillow landing on her face, lifting it off she sees Sofia kneeling down with her arms crossed. "Let me see you, come on," in a stern voice.

Giving a small sigh, Lara sits up while feeling the aches already starting to set in and moves onto her knees. Turning her back to Sofia as she knows that her back is far worse she pulls her long sleeved shirt off, the muscles protesting to the movement, but she ignores it.

Hearing no gasp, no 'you took a beating'. Instead she feels gentle fingers rubbing a cool ointment onto the scrapes first.

"Maybe you should stay for a little longer," Sofia suggests and Lara looks over her shoulder at her, a mild blush coming to her cheeks as she remembers she did want to explore the outskirts of the village. "I can teach you how to land when you've fallen so you won't get hurt so badly."

Lara gives a light laugh to the comment, "maybe I'll take you up on that," she closes her eyes and feels Sofia's gentle fingers put an even cooler ointment onto her bruises. "Ooooh… that feels good," letting out a small moan and sigh. For having such rough looking hands for working it in the wilderness all her life, she has a surprisingly tender touch.

Sofia has seen many of her people with scratches, scrapes, cuts, bruises and broken bones. But never has she seen so much on someone, usually just the odd bit here and there every few days, especially with the training kids. At the same time her eyes go over Lara's muscle tone, the curve of her body just as she'd given her a look over when her father stopped her from shooting. Lara had proven herself time and again to be able to hold her own. Biting her lower lip as she moves her fingers along her waist from landing on her left side so much, the ointment again eliciting a gasp and moan from Lara.

For some strange reason, Sofia cannot figure out why, but she enjoys hearing those sounds coming from Lara. The one who helped their people fight off Trinity, went up against the Deathless and did so much to help her people. The young brunette has captured her curiosity, but she is hesitant to pursue.

Lara can feel that something is off, Sofia's hand hasn't left her side and is holding her there, almost caressing her. She turns herself around part way to see a different look in Sofia's eyes, the normally hard soldier girl is showing vulnerability. The way Sofia's eyes travel up to lock onto Lara's, she feels a blush come to her cheeks again, the fire in the girls eyes are a calming ember that draws Lara to turn to Sofia more and lightly touch her shoulder.

Seeing the uncertainty, but also a curiosity like her own Sofia feels a small chill when Lara touches her shoulder and keeps her eyes locked on hers. Without another moment to chose to back off, Sofia moves in and kisses Lara, lightly touching her face with her finger tips. Her eyes closed so she cannot tell if Lara's are wide in alarm, however Lara not pulling away assures her not to back off.

Watching Sofia move in to kiss her, seeing her close her eyes, she feels her heart flutter, her smooth lips pressed against her own and her gentle finger tips touching her cheek. Any notion of being tired slips away as she closes her own eyes and returns the soft kiss.

Pulling away a little, Sofia opens her eyes to look at Lara and see her beautiful eyes slowly open to look back at her. Not wanting to wait a moment longer, Lara having the same notion, both moved in for a second kiss. Getting lost in what Sofia feels should be forbidden, but she doesn't care. Her undeniable attraction to her is being returned and she slowly moves Lara to lie on her back on the mattress.

Lara looks up as Sofia pulls away from the kiss a second time to look at one another, reaching up she pulls a lock of Sofia's hair away from her face to go behind her ear. Her heart hammering away in her chest and all she can smell is smoke and the woods on her, Lara gently places her hand onto the back of Sofia's head to pull her in for another kiss and Sofia obliges. Their lips meeting for a deeper kiss, and this time neither stop the moan that closed off behind the kiss.

Footsteps approach the tent make Sofia jump back and Lara grab a blanket to cover herself as a village man comes to the entrance but doesn't enter. "Sofia? Are you there?"

Clearing her throat and putting on her stone face, though she knows she's still blushing from the recent excitement. "Yes, what is it?"

He pulls aside one of the flaps to view inside, "I'm sorry, I lost the list for the watch and supplies that you wrote up."

Sofia stands up and looks at Lara, "I won't be long," she smiles at Lara and Sofia is just happy that her blush will be masked by the darkness and the fires outside.

Once Sofia left Lara sat up to pull her shirt back on in case someone else walked in without knowing she is there. Her cheeks going redder at the fact that they had just been kissing. Days ago Sofia was holding an arrow to her and threatened that if she didn't leave then she would kill her. However when Jacob called Lara a friend she noticed her eyes traveling her body, sizing her up no doubt, but in the end possibly the start of her attraction towards her.

She hears some footsteps come to the tent, Lara feels herself blush more knowing it's been months or more since she's been intimate with anyone. "You weren't kidding," Lara comments and turns around to feel all blood drain from her face.

A severely injured man stands before her, scars from fire cover most of his face and his clothes are a black mess with spots of blood. Her eyes search his face, wondering why he's come here. Surely he has his own tent to sleep in, unless it was wrecked sometime during the fight.

"Croft…" the man grunts and Lara's eyes widen, she cannot believe her ears, Konstantine alive and standing before her. She watched him fall through the floor while on fire. "You… are mine!" he hisses, pulls out a knife and charges at her.

Lara glances around for a weapon and grabs a stool, taking the seat end she swings it at him. However he grabs it and yanks hard. She doesn't let go, so she gets pulled closer, the knife is thrust at her abdomen so she releases the stool to spin around. Thankfully he isn't too fast due to his injuries and she kicks out his right knee making him bend that knee part way. Grunting Lara jumps onto his back and puts him into a choke hold.

'Don't make a scene, if he's here, who else is here from Trinity… wait maybe I should alert the others,' Lara thinks and realizes her tired mind is affecting her judgement. Before she knows it the knife is suddenly in her left thigh and she gives a cry of pain before he yanks it out, losing her focus he grabs her forearm and flips her up and over his head. Her body just nicking the post to the tent and sending some dishes to clatter to the ground.

Sofia looked up, hearing the sounds, but with so many wounded and people being moved to new sleeping locations she doesn't know where it came from. 'Come on Sofia, finish counting up the amount of supplies and then you can get back to Lara and get lost in that world again with her,' she looks back at the crate and fingers each item as she counts.

Konstantine moved himself over Lara and pins her to the floor with his hands around her throat, her eyes widen as she grabs for his hands to try to get them off, then up his arms to grab for any wound. Her vision is going darker and spots are forming as her lungs are burning for oxygen, grunting and feeling around with now flimsy hands for anything nearby her knees keep hitting his butt.

"Next time, make sure your enemy is dead Croft!" Konstantine spits as he watches her eyes roll up and her hands drop. But then he feels what he's been dealing with for the evening since their fight ended, fluid coming into his throat and burning his chest. He coughs up blood, and his body starts shaking from the exertion and internal bleeding he's been suffering from.

Clutching at his chest he's forced to let go of her throat to cough up more blood.

Air seeps into her lungs slowly and Lara starts to cough, her head hurting and chest burning, her eyes coming back down to focus on Konstantine who is now temporarily distracted. She rolls to her hands and knees to go to her belongings and watches as he stands up, coughing less and turns to her. The first thing she finds is her revolver, she turns to him and points the gun at him just as he takes her by the wrist and shoves it up to avoid the gunshot.

Konstantine grunts and back hands her with his free hand, but she doesn't let go of the gun, instead in her dazed state she looks to the table where the cutlery fell off to see a mug. Grabbing it she smashes it over the side of his face.

He cries out, "Gah! Damn you Croft!" and releases her wrist for fresh blood to start spilling down his face. His fingers cover his face to feel the broken skin letting loose the blood and his vision now red, he falls to his left knee and reaches to his right ankle for his ankle gun.

"I don't know how you survived, but this ends now! The suffering for these people ends now!" Lara says as Sofia opens the tent flaps with a few people behind her.

The first thing she takes in is the redness around Lara's neck and the bloodied, burnt man kneeling before her. Lara looks up at Sofia for a brief glance, which was all it took, in his red vision he whips his handgun out, and Sofia can feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she then charges for him. Wanting to protect Lara from what she doesn't see.

Lara quickly returns her attention to Konstantine, as soon as she sees his gun she fires. She feels nothing, but she can see his eyes' closing as she gradually feels her upper body losing feeling. Sofia freezes and looks between the two. Sofia's Her heart hammering in her chest, Lara's her fresh adrenaline rush fading quickly this time, no one moves for the first seconds. Sofia can feel her stomach drop as Konstantine finally collapses onto his side with a pool of blood forming beneath him. She runs to Lara and her eyes widen, she finally sees the red dot that has formed at her left collar bone and is getting bigger, "Lara…" Sofia hurries to her side just as Lara's knees give out, catching her.

Resting her weight in Sofia's arms, "I… I didn't feel it… at first," Lara breathes and she holds onto Sofia as her face quickly turns shades paler. Sofia then feels it, a warm sticky mass on Lara's back.

"The bullet went right thru," Sofia feels herself perspiring at the knowledge that Lara bled out her back first a large quantity before the spot on her chest started. After all that Lara had been through to find the Divine Source, to stop Trinity and help save her people, she had to be attacked in a place of comfort and safety, and she said she'd be back soon. Judging by the mess in the tent, Konstantine had come for her soon after she'd gone. Looking over her shoulder to see the village doctor rush in with medical supplies and Jonah, she looks back at Lara and puts on her mask of the soldier as she feels Lara's full weight and sets her down carefully.

"Hold on Lara," Sofia says in a firm voice that shows a hint of desperation as Jonah watches the doctor come to the other side of Lara and he follows behind him. Then his eyes land on Konstantine.

"I'm sorry…" Lara whispers while her right hand fights to hold Sofia's left shoulder, "I… I should have…" Lara feels a dark cloud come over her. Vision going darker with the specs again, her mind muddled and finding it hard to feel most of her body.

"I should have been here with you, Lara hold on girl, alright?" Jonah asks and looks at the villagers who are watching from the entrance.

"Shhh Lara, no more apologizing," Sofia says as the doctor uses scissors to open up the shirt and see the wound properly.

Jonah ignores the fact that he's now seeing Lara in her bra, the amount of red on her chest in contrast to her now pale skin scares him deeply. He's seen her beaten up badly from the elements she ran into on their first escapade, but this is different. Now understanding when he had been stabbed the worry she had for him, is all reversed.

The doctor looks around, "I need more space, she's lost a lot of blood," he looks back at the entry wound and uses whiskey to splash it onto the wound to clear away some of the blood.

Lara barely flinches, and Sofia watches her eyes close finally, unsure as to when she actually passed out. "Is she going to make it?"

Pursing his lips as he presses gauze to the exit wound and to the entry wound, "I have no idea in this moment, I need to stop the bleeding and start getting more blood into her."

"Use mine, my blood is good for any blood type, just tell me what to do," Jonah says hurriedly as a couple of villagers move Konstantine's body out of the tent and start fixing it up for the doctor.

Coming in and out of consciousness, Lara barely opens her eyes, the sounds all muddle together, briefly seeing Sofia leaning over her to help a man with wrapping gauze around her torso. Then seeing Jonah sitting next to her, hands together holding hers and her location is different, she has a warm feeling flooding into her. Just not enough to keep her conscious to try and take in what all is going on. She also remembers hearing screaming, and white hot pain, blurry figures moving about but nothing more.

Time doesn't faze, but what does is a flash of lightning through her eye lids with a loud crack of thunder to boom through the whole area, she jerks awake to see Sofia to her right holding her hand and she quickly calms her.

"Shhh it's okay, just a storm. You've actually slept through the worst of it," Sofia informs and holds her free hand out to motion for her to lie back down, Lara does and she sighs.

"How long?" Lara asks, she knows from her groggy state that it has to have been at least a few days due to the physical and mental trauma of the prior days added to the bullet wound.

Sofia smiles at her, "two days," she answers and watches Lara looking around at her surroundings. Inside of a log building, tucked away in a corner with an oil lantern to her left and a heavy fur blanket covering her body to help keep her warm.

Turning her head, Lara blinks a couple of times as her eyes adjust to the light and take in her own mental and physical state. Her head is clearing, it doesn't hurt, but what does hurt is her left shoulder blade area. Body is warm, she feels tired and a little hungry.

"Why can't two days of sleep mean I'll be fully rested when I wake up?" Lara asks with a smile to which Sofia shakes her head.

"Because it wasn't restful sleep, you were in and out all day and all night. Sometimes you tossed and turned which caused the wound to reopen and you started to bleed again, you were screaming… I won't deny it. You scared me more than once," Sofia says and Lara looks at her, locks her eyes with her.

'It was me that was screaming… the white hot pain was the bullet hole reopening,' Lara realizes. She feels herself start to get hotter and realizes it's because the last time they were alone, they'd been kissing and the look in her eyes again is giving her a fuzzy feeling in her stomach up to her chest. "I scared you… and I wasn't conscious for this?" Lara teases and Sofia glares at her.

"You were partially conscious," Sofia reaches her left hand up to pull a strand of hair away from Lara's right cheek. Her hand moves up to caress her face, feeling quite vulnerable again as she is being open with Lara and she doesn't like to be open like this. "Watching you grow pale, feeling your weight drop into my arms and your blood soak the back of your shirt… after what…" she swallows, "after what happened between us, and then seeing that you'd been strangled and you fighting for your life. It scared me that… the one person I've-" Lara places her free index finger onto Sofia's lips to stop her.

"I'm not going anywhere," Lara says softly and moves her hand to move her fingers into Sofia's hair a little and then gently hold the side of her head. Thumb lightly stroking her cheek.

Sofia then bent down and kissed her, releasing Lara's hand finally and placing it to the other side of Lara to support herself hovering over her. Lara melts into the kiss and feels Sofia part her lips and Lara grants her access for their tongues to meet, deepening the kiss. Moaning into the kiss, Sofia places her left hand next to Lara's head for support as her right hand pulls away to go to the fur blanket and tugs it aside for her hand to slip under.

Feeling hot enough in the heat of the moment, she doesn't notice Sofia's hand sneak under her cover. Heart racing in her as Lara holds Sofia's left shoulder and continues holding the side of her head. Not wanting her to pull away this time, Sofia tilts her head to the side and opens her mouth wider, Lara's tongue dancing with her's in her mouth and moans at the pure bliss of it all.

Lara's eyes shoot open when she feels her pants get undone and looks at Sofia to see her face is flushed red, pulling away from the kiss, "S-Sofia?"

"No one is coming in here at 3 in the morning, please Lara, let me do this," Sofia says and her soft finger tips rest at Lara's panty line. Lara can feel her cheeks getting hotter, and her breathing starting to pick up, she stares into Sofia's eyes and can see she is confident and truly cares.

"Okay," Lara breathes and she doesn't take her eyes off of Sofia's as she feels her hand go down and then her finger tip brushes her sensitive spot and Lara gasps out, her body jerks in surprise to the sensation and Sofia smiles.

Lara shoves the rest of the cover off of her as her body feels like it is radiating heat with how much Sofia is working her and making her feel. Sofia smiles genuinely at the sight of what she's doing to the outsider, her middle finger sliding down to Lara's heated, wet core and thumb resting on her sensitive spot.

Leaning her head down to kiss Lara passionately and receive the same in the kiss before slipping her finger inside, she feels Lara's moan into the kiss and slips her tongue back into her mouth. All while feeling Lara's legs close on her wrist and try to hold her there from going, her hips rising in want, she sucks on Lara's tongue as she rubs the sensitive pearl and her middle and index finger start sliding in and out.

Gasping and moaning into the kiss that is becoming a hungry one for Lara, she reaches her right hand down to place it over her pants where Sofia's hand is to pin it there in need. Her left hand reaching up to hold the back of Sofia's head base.

Nibbling on her bottom lip, Sofia keeps feeling a little more daring, moving over the bed to straddle Lara and keeps moving her fingers in and out of her heated core. Listening to Lara's breathing getting heavier she gasps herself when she feels Lara lifting the bottom hem of her shirt. Her soft, smooth fingers caressing her sides and moving up slowly, feeling her toned torso and moving up her front. Sofia looks down just as she feels her warm hands slip up to cup her breasts, this elicits a gasp from Sofia and Lara smiles, having had a feeling she wouldn't be wearing a bra. Her hands move down again to hold her at her waist.

Taking a chance, Sofia moves her finger into a hook and Lara gasps louder, her back arching, ignoring the mild pain it brings to her left side. Panting heavily and stifling a cry when Sofia starts rubbing her vigorously. Her chest heaving, Lara holds Sofia by her waist as she feels she needs to hold something. Her hips bucking to the new thrusts of Sofia's fingers and the working of her pearl, gasping shallower and shallower breaths.

Sofia watches in enjoyment, knowing she's causing Lara to feel and react like this, watching her back arch more. She watches the bandage on her collar bone area for any signs of bleeding. And then feeling Lara grip her sides tightly she leans down and seals her lips with her own just in time to absorb her cry as her orgasm hit. Withdrawing her hand from Lara's pants and feeling Lara's hands shaking on her sides before slowly relaxing from her little orgasm ride, Sofia pulls away slowly only to have Lara lean up and kiss her again, nibbling her lower lip before finally watching her pull away.

"Wow…" Lara breathes, "I didn't… expect any of that," she giggles a little and Sofia smiles while staring at her.

"I nearly kill you with an arrow and at the end of it all… I wind up crushing and falling for you," Sofia comments and looks at Lara's bandage to see a little bit of pink. "And I may have pushed you too soon," she moves off of her to go to the supplies on the table around the wall.

Moving back to the bandage Lara sits up slowly, wincing a little at the discomfort. Sofia pulls open the shirt where they've made it easier to unbutton the top portion just for this wound, carefully she undoes it and unwraps the gauze to reveal a thick square piece of gauze on each side. Both sides have blood soaking into them, "yeah, too soon."

"I don't regret it," Lara says for Sofia to glance at her as she uses some wet cloth to clean each side before placing fresh gauze on. "I will live, this is bound to happen Sofia and after what you just did for me… I don't regret it."

Sofia blushes at the comment while wrapping fresh gauze around her as she'd seen being done a few times already. Once done she buttons the shirt up again and goes under the bed to pull out a set of folded underwear and pants. "These were made up recently for you, I think you'll rest better with something dry on," she winks and Lara blushes this time.

Holding her hand out Lara takes it with her right hand to steady herself into standing up off of the bed. Sofia left her to change while getting Lara some food and water, returning with cheese and bread that is loaded with raisins and nuts.

Sitting on the side of the bed, in clean clothes Lara eats, not realizing she was so hungry till she took her first bite. "I remember my first real meal on Yamati, my first adventure," Lara says as memories go by in her mind of the pouring rain and finding a little spot to make camp.

"What happened with your first adventure?" Sofia asks and takes a seat next to her, watching her in earnest, being she's never left her village and the ruins surrounding it.

Lara closes her eyes briefly, "my best friend from College told me about Yamati, and her own family history with it, about a ruler named Himiko the Sun Queen who it turned out kept cheating death by trading souls with young girls who were deemed to be worthy of carrying on the tradition. We were traveling by ship and the island would not allow people to come or go, ships and planes were found littered along the outskirts and on the island. The wrath of Himiko's soul trapped in a mummified state had powers that made wicked storms rise up around the island. I found a high ranking officer of her storm guard who had committed seppuku, he had a message left behind that said her last successor took her own life rather than receive the Sun Queen's power. There was a cult there that still worshipped Himiko and an insane man who felt the only way to get the storms to stop to escape was to give Himiko a new vessel to inhabit. While I was there I made my first kill on man to save my life, that was a big… emotional thing for me to take another persons' life. I lost my mentor who helped coach me on how to survive on my own. He performed CPR on me… mouth to mouth precipitation as I had died for a couple of minutes at most I gather, he gave his life to protect me from a tomahawk. I killed Himiko with a torch to the chest before she could take my best friend. I learned a lot and grew a lot from there, understanding that because that myth was true that others around the world had to be investigated… such as your Divine Source."

Sofia listened intently, another who sought to live forever, with powers and trapping people on an island, a cult, and the knowledge of how Lara had to grow quickly on that island to survive. "Fast learner, quick to adapt and know what it takes to survive. You have a strong will, as evidenced by this adventure," she smiles at her and stands up. "I'll leave you to get your proper rest."

Looking up at Sofia, Lara nods, she wants to say more but knows that she also needs to get her rest. "Thank you, good night."


	2. Reflecting

Eyes staring in concentration at the markings she's written down in her field journal that the village kindly gave her. Finally learning more from the rich history, Lara has spent a couple of hours working on this one pillar and is holding the end of her pencil between her lips. Never one for biting pencils and pens, she stares between her already coded text and what she's working to decipher.

"I swear the answer is right in front of me, right here, I'm just not looking at it the right way," Lara grumbles and closes her eyes to give them a brief break. It has been a couple of days since the Divine Source has been destroyed, and after that she was attacked in her tent by Konstantine. Sofia and Jonah nursed her back to health, though her left collar bone still hurts a little. Her relationship with Sofia has grown considerably.

Lara opens her eyes again to find her eye sight is dark, "wha?" she blinks and hears a giggle from behind her and smiles herself.

Removing her hands, Sofia moves to kneel next to her and looks at her papers and the inscription she's working on. "I didn't think anyone could sit down here for this long to just stare at this," Sofia comments and Lara smirks.

"It'll be for my own personal library," Lara says and watches as Sofia looks down at her writing.

"We used to focus on this stuff, but over time it became less important, sorry I cannot help you with it," Sofia frowns and bites her bottom lip, "I can check with some of the older villagers and see if any of them recall of any of it."

Chuckling Lara wraps her arm around her shoulders, "that would be great, but if not then I'll just call it a night and write down the inscription and put it on the back burner," she sees a look of alarm on Sofia's face and she holds up her hands. "Not that kind, it's a figure of speech, meaning for later."

Sofia rolls her eyes and straightens herself up, "alright, well I'll go and ask around and try to be back for lunch in an hour, okay?"

Nodding, "I will, though I don't mind the company," Lara adds before grabbing her arm and pulling her down to give her a kiss. After a few moments Lara pulls away and watches the smile form on Sofia's face as she too pulls away.

"I'll be back to check in on you," she winks and leaves the ruins for the hallways and passageways leading towards the land of her village. It was a long walk, the ruins Lara had found had to do with an illness that set in years ago, the skeletons still lying about on shelves, on tables and on the floor.

Her people had decided it was best to leave it in the past, do not disturb what once happened otherwise there is no warning to the current or future generation as to what can happen. It also keeps the curious kids out, as it isn't safe for them to go playing in.

Seeing her people healing and that the nearest places are almost rebuilt with a lot of teamwork and organization, she smiles to herself. "I think you'd be proud father," her smile fades, "but what do we do after… there is no Divine Source to protect, no Deathless to keep intruders out. All there is now is us and the history you've left for generations. Do we stay because it is our way of life, or do some of us leave in search of something more? I do not wish to abandon what you set out for us… and then there's Lara," Sofia walks into her home that is shared with a few.

Her fingers touching the old wood table and running along its surface, feeling the grains and cracks that have formed over the years. The darkened parts feel cold even though it happened many nights ago, brief fires from the attacks made by Trinity. "What if Lara brings more of her people down here… to as she put it 'catalog' the parts of history for people to learn about our struggles? Or would that just bring more of what we worked to keep sacred?" Sofia asks out loud and grabs up a jug to pour herself some water.

"Her first attempt fell through, and this one I feel she will keep to herself," a female voice comes from above her, Sofia smirks.

"Jackie… sorry I didn't mean to burden you," Sofia says and takes a sip for the elder lady to come down the stairs to reach her. Her face lined with wrinkles but they're not pronounced, she has a slender build and long black hair pulled back into a pony tail. A slender, pointed face with soft green eyes, she isn't much of a fighter but she can wield a bow and arrow just as well as the rest of them.

Laughing to herself, "dear child, when have you ever done otherwise, but as you know I'm always here to give a listening ear," Jackie brightens at Sofia's smile that graces her lips. "Lara is a smart and stubborn young woman, we've all seen that. But from the moment she came here, she took in what Jacob told her and what she witnessed, she changed and grew to have a better understanding. What she once sought to show the world she now wishes to keep to herself, and to let us keep and have it cherished."

Nodding, "this is true, when I first saw her I was hiding off in the bushes, and I watched her land on a man and take him out. Gradually each person with Trinity she managed to kill, but at the time I had no idea if it was to just trick me. Plant one of their own as an enemy in the woods and try and get us to trust her, take her in and kill us from the inside out… but in the end father told her to come and reach us. I was ready to kill her when he didn't show up with her and as Trinity attacked, she came to help me free our own people from behind a locked door," Sofia smiles a little, "and then she continued to fight on our side, taking down many of their men, risking her own life to save ours. I finally realized she was telling the truth… and…" she bites her bottom lip and runs her fingers through her hair.

"You care a lot for her, you grew to really care and I've noticed how things have changed between you two," Jackie says, pulling up a chair next to her and turning the chair to face her.

Sofia swallows and looks at her, "y-yeah… I do," she says trying to sound defensive, but it doesn't work and she takes another drink of her water.

Smiling sweetly and placing her hand onto her shoulder, "I know, and that's okay. Things change, people change. You have strong romantic feelings for Lara, and she is reciprocating them in return. You are trying to juggle so much at once, your new relationship with Lara and the village and trying to figure out what to do that is right for everyone," Jackie says and Sofia finishes her water before turning to her.

"That's true, I don't know how my father did it all, I could manage for weeks as he went to the other side of the mountain… but this new thing with Lara…" Sofia sits back in her chair and sighs. Then she jumps, "oh right! She's studying up on the old wording in one of the ruins outside of the village. But she needs helps, and I know we stopped passing down the knowledge years ago, do you recall how to translate any of it?"

Jackie gives a hearty laugh, sitting back in her own chair and resting her hands onto her thighs, "of course I can. It'll be such a joy to teach someone who actually cares and wants to know, let her know I'll go over it with her tomorrow. Right now, I just want you to enjoy yourself before she chooses to go," and with that Sofia went from happy to having her face fall. However Jackie continues to smile, "talk to her… do you want to leave with her?"

Sofia's eyes widened, fearful, concerned, troubled, "leaving has never been an option… and with everything Trinity brought and used, I feel I would be overwhelmed by her world."

Soft, aged eyes watch her carefully, "talk with Lara, this village and the way we live here is everything you know. You are a smart young woman who can learn more, perhaps if you go to her world you'll be able to bring back things that will be useful to our people," Jackie suggests, wanting to remind Sofia that if she chose to leave, she can always come back to the world she knows.

Pursing her lips, Sofia nods and looks at Jackie, "alright, I think it is time I pried her beautiful eyes off of that stone anyways," she blushes as she isn't used to openly talking about what she likes about Lara.

Within minutes Sofia is back in the ruins and creeping up behind Lara who seems lost within her own world, oblivious to the fact that she is there. Lightly tapping on the paper and having her eyes closed Sofia moves in stealthy and crouches behind Lara to smoothly wrap her arms around her waist. Causing Lara to go stiff for a moment before relaxing against her chest.

"Sorry… I lose track of time easily," Lara apologizes and rests her own hands on top of Sofia's.

"It's okay, not much time has gone by really, and I spoke with one of our elder villagers. She's going to help you translate everything but she'll start tomorrow. So we have time to ourselves," Sofia says and without hesitation she starts to sneak her right hand down into Lara's pants and lightly rub the cotton fabric of her panties.

Eyes opening up in alarm, Lara's hand had stayed on her pants rim and her back straightens against Sofia, "Sofia…" Lara says softly and gathers up just enough courage to pull her hand out which saddens Sofia. Then Lara turns around and forces Sofia onto her back, "you already had your fun with me, and I imagine you've been waiting patiently for your next chance, but as have I."

Sofia's face goes from pink to rosy shades of red at the comment and feels the heat rising through her shirt to the neck, "Lara I –" silenced with Lara's lips on hers and she stopped protesting immediately. Moving her hands up to her face and slowly moves down to hold her neck, very gently as she fears it is still very tender from what Konstantine had done to her.

Pulling away from the kiss briefly Lara moves to being on her knees, straddling Sofia properly and starts to undo her jacket. Reaching down, Sofia undoes Lara's jacket and removes her scarf before reaching up to hold the back of her head and pull her back down for another kiss. She then wraps her legs around Lara and moves them both so she is back on top.

"I have been waiting patiently, and I'm not going to give up so easily, Croft," Sofia blushes at her own show of dominance and lifts up Lara's shirt and her bra quickly before Lara can argue and captures her right breast in her mouth, her other hand kneading and massaging the other breast.

Gasping, Lara arches her back at the contact of her hot mouth on her body, "I can see that," Lara whispers and her body flinches when Sofia gives a light nibble and pinch at the same time to both nipples. "My gosh Sofia," she feels her suck on her right nipple and roll the other between her finger tips. Jolts from the nerve endings going from her nipples straight down to her groin, her knees rising and breathing already going heavier.

Moving quickly, Sofia changes to her other breast and her other hand gives the other breast attention, her other hand sneaking down to Lara's pants to slowly undo them and once inside her hand feels heat radiating instantly from beneath her panties. She grins to herself at this revelation, moving down her body she places kisses, feeling Lara's skin rise and fall to each kiss, but then Lara switches gears, sitting up she wraps her right arm around Sofia's waist and moves her back onto her back.

"I'm not done," Lara says in a matter of fact way, kissing her again and finishing with opening her jacket and shirt as she kisses her. Deciding to be sneaky, Sofia moves her hand still into Lara's pants, and starts to stroke the fabric on top of her pearl, Lara gasps into the kiss and her hips jerk.

Sofia's eyes open at the feel of the cool air suddenly touching her exposed chest, gasping she watches Lara pull away from the kiss to kiss down her neck, down to her collar bone, and finally reach her breasts and runs her tongue over her left nipple. It goes hard in seconds and causes Sofia to yelp in surprise, looking down at Lara and feeling herself getting hotter at the sight of her doing this to her now.

Watching her lips latch onto her nipple makes her rest her head on the ground and close her eyes, the sensations overwhelming her senses and moving her legs to wrap around Lara. Having lost her spot inside of Lara's pants she moves her hands instead to hold the back of her head, wanting to keep her there, her chest rising and falling in the excitement and thrill of it all. Then she feels her lips come off and give a little bite which makes Sofia cry out but she laughs in the end.

"Oh my… you are full of surprises," Sofia comments breathily and feels the same hot, wet tongue go to her right nipple, goose bumps rise up across her upper body and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Arching her back into her, she feels her suck and lightly bite again, yelping this time and gasping. The electricity going to her groin every time and finding her hips rising and falling in a motion of want.

Grinning that what she is doing is causing so many affects on her, Lara pulls away only to have Sofia sit up quickly and capture her lips. She holds her there and slips her tongue into her mouth, tilting her head to the side to get better access and moans when Lara does the same. The feel and taste of her tongue in her own mouth drives her wild in wanting more from her, she feels Lara's hands on her pants and laughs lightly into the kiss. Her belt is a special one and she moves her hands down to remove Lara's hands to undo her own pants and then gently moves Lara to lie on her back again.

Kneeling before her she tugs Lara's pants off and looks at her panties in curiosity, this makes Lara blush crimson and reach down to cover herself, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Sofia smiles at her, "no Lara, I want you," she shrugs her own jacket and shirt off, no bra, and then she removes her pants and underwear.

She watches Lara's eyes travel up and down her body, taking her figure in, every curve, muscle tone and slender smooth shape. Feeling her own body radiating heat and goose bumps spread all over her body.

"Your beautiful," Lara whispers and watches Sofia move down to hover over her own body, sealing her lips over hers in a passionate kiss. Placing her hands onto Sofia's sides she lightly sucks and nibbles on her lower lip.

Feeling tugs on her bra, Lara doesn't bother to open her eyes and instead gently moves Sofia to sit up so she can and takes her jacket, shirt and bra off. Their lips meet again in a heat of passion, and Sofia decides to take a chance, moving her right foot up and over Lara's left thigh she moves her left leg lower between her two legs and moves herself lower.

Blinking, Lara looks at her intrigued and confused until Sofia entwines their bodies so their most sensitive pearls are touching in the scissors and Lara gasps at the sensation. The nerve endings in her pearl instantly electrified and sending off pleasure to all of her sensitive spots. Her body jerks and hips automatically rock to Sofia's grinding motion, her chest heaving, heart racing, hands reaching down to grip the clothing beneath her.

Lara's mouth opens a gap and her breathing grows heavier every second as Sofia grinds faster with her, legs jumping and watching Sofia. She is also panting and Lara can see beads of sweat form on her forehead, sliding between her breasts and on her abs. Seeing that her nipples are still erect Lara reaches up her hands, tentatively and cups each of them before rubbing and rolling her nipples between her fingers.

Gasping out and moaning loudly, Lara finally realizes she can smell Sofia's pleasure and her own, in the heat of the passion, she feels a surge building up within her. Arching her back and continuing to rock her hips and grind harder and faster against Sofia, the sweat build up making the grinding more lucid and slick. Sofia grinds faster and harder in return.

Planting a hand onto each of Lara's on her breasts to keep them there, locking her eyes with Sofia she feels the surge build up faster all the way to the breaking point. A rush of pleasure courses through Lara, her mind filled with ecstasy as her body trembles and rides out the orgasm that she and Sofia are both experiencing.

After moments pass Sofia climbs off and lies down next to Lara, chests still heaving and both glistening with sweat both girls start laughing.

"Wow…" Lara whispers and Sofia giggles then. "That was unexpected… but… I really enjoyed it."

"As did I," Sofia comments and once she has some of her strength back she turns onto her side to face Lara. "How about we wash up and then join the others for dinner?"

Looking down at herself, still covered in sweat that is starting to feel cool now that she is recovering, she scrunches up her nose. "That sounds like a plan, a very good plan," she giggles and then laughs to herself.

The ladies take a moment and finally Lara stands up to go into the nearby pool of water that one has to hold their breath to go through the passage that lies on the other side. She sighs in enjoyment at the feel of the cool waters as it rises to her neck.

Within a short while they are both walking to the village, a table set up in each group of tents and a couple set up within the larger buildings. "Come and sit with me and the other leaders of the village," Sofia suggests and Lara shakes her head.

"I don't think that would be right, I'll go to the tents and join with-" Lara started but spots Jackie standing in the doorway of the building Sofia is headed to. She is motioning for her to come in and steps inside, sighing, "alright, I just don't want to be a bother, being I'm the outsider and all."

Walking in with Lara, Jackie motions for her to take a seat next to her and Sofia sits at the head of the table, it's a very long one with spots for ten people. A couple of the men at the table don't look very happy with Lara sitting there, as she feared but Sofia puts on her business face.

Passing around the food Jackie smiles at Lara, "I look forward to working with you tomorrow on the inscriptions," she comments and Lara beams at her.

"Thank you Jackie, the whole story of your history here fascinates me, I'm enjoying learning how you came to be here and everything since then," Lara smiles and is taken in by the warm smile Jackie gives her, like a Grandmother happy to treat her granddaughter.

"We have a long day of work tomorrow, get your rest tonight," Jackie says and hands over the bowl of salad before being passed the platter of meats and then a small bow of fruits.

Not taking too much, just enough, Lara happily eats and enjoys it. The food isn't like what she has at home, but like her time on Yamati she has grown accustom to eating foods like these. Simpler, eating out in the wilds is something she enjoys being able to do again. When she got back to her house after Yamati it felt strange to have a fully stocked fridge and not to have to hunt or collect fruits from bushes on her way to her destinations.

"I wanted to bring something up tonight and to ask you all about your thoughts and Lara doesn't know about this yet. I am considering going with Lara to where she lives, if she's alright it with and if you are all alright as well. I know that when I left late last week to the other side of the mountain that you were all able to handle things," Sofia says and takes a fork full of her rabbit meat.

The few men who didn't look pleased to have Lara join them do not look pleased with this information. An older man Brock with short black hair that is greying, broad shoulders and a large chest that indicates he does a lot of building and manual work, "what has brought this up?"

Sofia swallows and looks at him, "the Divine Source is gone, I told Lara back when she helped myself and a large number of our people that this life is all we know. Which opened my eyes when I first learned that my father, the Deathless Prophet, had died once the Divine Source was destroyed-"

"How do we know that Lara here didn't kill him herself?" one of the ladies at the table asks, Martha, a few years older than Sofia with fiery red hair that remains untamed and a dark look to her eyes. "I know that he vouched for her when she first got here, but we had no eyes on either of them during the ordeal."

Glaring at her and taking a bite of her salad, Sofia takes a moment to consider her words. "I helped Lara take down the helicopter; I helped her get to the Divine Source. I worked with her and watched her help us during each fight with Trinity, she came back into the old villages where they had set up camp and took out many of theirs. Yes she had her own mission at the start, but the more she came to learn, seeing our fight and purpose the more she came to help us and see the true danger. My father spoke with me before he went in to aid in her fight, he knew that she'd destroy the Divine Source and he told me that it meant his own end. Which he was prepared for, if she didn't do it he would have because he knew it was time to stop protecting something so powerful and dangerous. It was time for our people to stop dying for it, with that leaves questions of what to do now? Stay and continue with our normal daily lives or…" Sofia pauses to make sure they're listening closely. "Leave and try something new."

The second of the guys slams his fist on the table, Lara had never intended any of this to happen. However, she also knows it was bound to happen, and it is something that Sofia only can do unless if she calls to Lara for information that she doesn't know.

The man points at Lara which makes her feel defensive but says nothing, long blonde hair combed back and reminding her of Konstantine, only he had a really big beard and a mountain man physique. "You are letting your judgement be clouded by your desires for her! If it wasn't for her, you wouldn't be interested in leaving what we've kept going for years!"

Sofia stands up and slams her cup of water onto the table, a fire in her eyes at being challenged. "Yes I have an interest in Lara, but that doesn't mean that myself and others aren't interested in exploring more of the world to see what the rest has to offer. We no longer have a relic to protect, we no longer have the Deathless Prophet to heal us if others come to attack, what we do have are old ruins," she sits back down and takes a breath. "And after watching Lara working on translating, I am actually wondering if she might have people to come and further document the other ruins," she watches Brock open his mouth to protest but raises her hand. "If her people can document and show the world what she discovered here, that there is no Divine Source, but it's people who still live here and the old architecture… perhaps other companies like Trinity will not come here. Perhaps when all is revealed to the world on her discovery then there won't be others coming here for what they know is gone."

The others stew at the table and continue eating, Lara closes her eyes briefly and feels Jackie place her hand onto her forearm. Turning her attention to her, "do you have people like that? Like yourself who are only interested in documenting and sharing the rich history with others?"

Feeling the eyes of everyone else at the table turn to her, Lara straightens her back and nods. "There are," she wets her lips before eating some blueberry. "There are big companies who go out to document and film as well, but I'm not sure I trust them. When I get back I'd need to conduct interviews, and do extensive background checks… but I would never consider this without the full approval of everyone here. And I mean everyone," she looks up at Brock, Martha and Tobias, "all of your people. This is your home, all of it, and it is your decision to make."

Finally the third man speaks up, he is a slender man, his hair is combed but being so thick and bushy it makes no difference. Reminding Lara of the man she'd killed with an arrow to the throat to save Sam the first time. "Sofia wants to leave, and possibly document our home and ruins… and Lara has brought up a good point. It isn't just up to us; the option for leaving should be open to the others as well. No one should be forced to stay if they seek to see and learn more like Sofia."

Brock stands up, his face going red, "we lose our people? We lose our workers? Then what?"

Clearing her throat, everyone looks to Jackie and she smiles a little. "It's change, if people leave then yes there will be fewer workers but also fewer to care for and prepare food for. We are already being cautious with our hunting and gathering due to our numbers, and we lost many in this last fight against Trinity. But change is something that we all deal with every day, every week, every year and not everyone likes it," she looks at Brock with kind eyes. "But never the less it is going to happen whether we want it to or not. I trust Lara to look out for our people if they so choose to have more outsiders come to document the areas around us. After all I don't want everything we've worked so hard to maintain for centuries to become lost and forgotten, what we've done and kept at should be saved and appreciated."

Heaving a sigh Brock growls under his breath and storms out, followed by Martha.

"We hold a vote the day after tomorrow then, gather all of the villagers in each area and give them all a chance to vote," Sofia says and they finish eating in silence.

That night Lara sits out in front of one of the fires in the middle of a cluster of tents and listens to Jonah sigh before taking a seat next to her. "I hear that there's going to be a vote coming up soon, what will you do if they choose to have more archeologists come?"

Smiling a little, "I was thinking of reach out to Discovery, or National Geographic, I know that they are both big companies and you never know where Trinity has their claws in. At the same time though, there has to be true people within each company who have the same goals you and I," Lara looks at Jonah to see him smiling back at her.

"Good to see your already working out a plan, I know you Lara and after what happened with Dr Whitman I know you'll be extra thorough in your team," Jonah wraps his arm around her shoulders and holds her close.

Setting her head onto his shoulder, "I'm happy to have you by my side still, one adventure after another."

Jonah chuckles, "and what is this I am hearing about you and Sofia?"

Cheeks going rosy quickly at him bringing up Sofia, "I didn't know you were one for gossip," she smiles a little in fondness. "But yes… we've become intimate with each other and she wants to come back with me."

Sighing happily, Jonah lightly rubs her shoulder, "our world is very different from this, are you sure she can handle it?" and she notes that he doesn't bring up her growing relationship with Sofia.

Looking up at the moon, Lara gives a content sigh, "she is a fast learner, proper warnings and taking things one step at a time… I think she could handle it. After all, thanks to Roth I was able to adapt to learn and live in this world. A simpler world," she closes her eyes. "We'll see what comes with the votes."

Please review! Thoughts, suggestions, what you liked most, etc.


	3. New World

Looking out her window, Lara sighs, the ground going by below but out of her view she looks over at Sofia who looks a little nervous but at the same time putting on a brave face while Jonah looks to be deep in thought. Two days ago a lot of things changed…

Jackie was really excited and enthused to have a student actually interested in her people's history and to fill out over 20 pages worth of text. Not including the translated information and to see Lara's face light up and jump in here and there when coming to conclusions, as well as giving her own insight impressed Jackie. This also made her wish that the younger generation of their own village had so much interest, when she told Lara about it, Lara helped her come up with ways to make learning about the history into something fun and interactive.

Next was the vote, Sofia almost got a majority vote, the idea of preserving and showing the world what they have been protecting would also help to keep people like Trinity away knowing there is nothing left to hide. No one to kill something over. Lara marveled at her ability to speak before her people, she wasn't the oldest, but because of her being the Deathless Prophet's daughter gave her an extra push.

Much of the younger voted that they would like to leave, which didn't surprise Lara being they are curious and at the rebellious age. She then stood before them to explain that she would discuss things with Jonah and her other people on how to integrate some of the younger generation. Thankfully not all wanted to come, feeling they'd get homesick; there are also duties in the village that have to be carried out by the younger. After a long and slightly heated discussion with Tobias, Martha, Brock and a couple of others, it was agreed that the older who are in charge of assigning duties and those who know the kids better will decide on who gets to leave and when. Make it into a program to work and prepare for as well.

The frightening aspect that happened on the mountain when trekking back to where Lara and Jonah left her team originally, a sniper took out their hostage Anna when Lara and her were in heated discussion about her father. Now with her knowing that Trinity ordered her father's execution and that he didn't kill himself raised even more questions. Knowing they had been watching her for that long, gave her a chill…

Rubbing her face she closes her eyes for a moment and then looks up at Sofia, trying to appear calm for her first plane ride. "I'm sorry about what happened back there Lara," Sofia says and Lara gives a sad smile.

"It's alright, there's nothing you could have done, but what I can do for you is prepare you for my world," Lara blinks, getting out of her seat at remembering something. "Which reminds me," Lara pulls out a bag with folded clothes and holds it out to Sofia who looks at it with intrigue and confusion. "These are some clothes for you to wear, not that what you wear isn't fine but they will make you stand out more and ask questions to things we aren't yet ready for them to get the answers to."

Standing up Sofia takes out the clothes to find a dark brown spring leather jacket, a bright yellow shirt and dark blue jeans sit inside.

"There's a bathroom just back there," Lara indicates and Sofia walks to the small room and closes the door. Pursing her lips, Lara hopes she can handle her world, the media, the traffic, the chaos of a city before getting to the Croft mansion where they can finally be secluded to their own business. The research she needs to start doing on archeologists, the history on each person, the companies she's going to be entrusting with the documenting of Sofia's ruins, the places her people can go to when they leave their world. A lot of work and she hopes Sofia will be able to handle herself and learn to adapt and help her with the work load she has put upon herself.

The door opens and Lara looks up, unable to stop herself from blushing as the outfit fits her perfectly, "not bad, it feels a little weird and really, really soft compared to what I'm used to," Sofia comments and feels Lara's eyes looking her up and down. "You like?"

Giggling Lara nods, "I do," she wets her lips and takes her seat again. "I need to go over some things with you, sadly I cannot go over everything but I'll do my best to prepare you for my world."

Sofia nods and takes a seat across from her again.

"When we get there I have no doubt that the media will know about my arrival, the people I hired to help with the expedition left Syria over a week ago. The media was bound to find out what I was up to, any little slip up or they'll twist things to what they want, why?" Lara sees a quizzical look on Sofia's face again. "They'll at times do or say things to get a reaction and come up with theories of their own, if it's bad they'll boost that even if the good news is nice, they know that at times bad news will sell better. When we get out there they'll have cameras out, microphones out, please don't take anything they say personal. They'll make accusations, what is best to be done is to say 'no comment' as the least we give them right now the less fuel they have to continue to burn my family name in the news and my reputation."

Sitting back in her chair, Lara sighs, "we'll take a taxi to get to my place, we'll be going through a very busy and hectic city to get to it. It'll be very noisy, bad drivers, rude people but always keep in mind," she smiles, "there is good too, it's just everything will be overwhelming at first. When we get to my place, which Is secluded from it all, I'll unpack and get to work on researching people for the documentation of your place. Oh," she puts her face into her hand, "I have a butler, who gets the groceries, waters the plants and more often than not, gets me food and drink when I've been lost to my research for too long."

She feels Sofia's hand take hers and pull it away from her face, she smiles, "its okay, everything will be alright. You adapted to my world through the help of Roth, I know your world is vastly advanced, but at the same time I'm a quick learner and so long as your there I'll be fine."

Smiling at her, Lara closes her eyes, she then feels the plane starting to descend, "time to go and face the music," and watches Jonah stand up. "Lara I'll go and get the taxi, I have a feeling they're going to swarm you more than me and they're going to be really curious about Sofia as she's a fresh face."

"Thank you Jonah," Lara nods and they look out the window to see the ground coming up to meet them, Sofia grips Lara's hand tightly when this happens and feels the light bouncing of the plane as it settles and glides smoothly along the ground.

Watching in wonder as large buildings and towers go by, Sofia starts to feel a little nervous, all of this black ground with lines and no grass. No trees or mountains, it is all replaced with these huge blocks, much bigger than those that Trinity were occupying in some areas. She feels the plane slowly come to a stop and on the ground a large group of people come into view, little boxes flashing, people talking to longer boxes. 'This is going to be interesting…' she thinks and feels Lara give her hand a reassuring squeeze.

The door with steps lowers again, this time for them to leave and Jonah steps out first and pushes his way around the mob of reporters and hurries off as their bags of luggage get lowered out the back of the plane. Walking to the top of the stairs, Sofia blinks at the constant flashes of cameras going, she releases Lara's hand as the stairs are too narrow to walk together.

"Lara! Did you find the Divine Source? Who is the young lady with you? Why did you separate from your party? Did you get lost on the mountain? Why were you gone for over a week?" the reporters were asking and Lara didn't say a word to them. She turns instead to take Sofia's hand and helps to pull her through the intrusive cameras and microphones shoved in their face.

"Miss! Who are you? Are you someone Lara found on her new adventure?" a man asks Sofia and she is a little stunned by how they're being. Feeling defensive and agitated she wants to snap back at them, but Lara helps them both squeeze through. Lara watches a taxi pull through and Jonah grab the luggage and throw it into the trunk right away. The crowd almost surrounding the taxi by the time they jump into the car and Lara gives her address so the man can enter the address into his GPS.

Heaving a sigh Lara groans, "that could have gone better, someone leaked our arrival," she looks at Sofia to see a hint of fear and irritation in her eyes and she touches her hand on her lap. "I'm sorry, I'm famous in the wrong way sadly…" she reaches up and pulls down her belt and Sofia follows her action.

"You weren't kidding with your warning; they get right into your face," Sofia says through a clenched jaw and Lara takes her hand again and lightly strokes the back of it with her thumb, gradually having Sofia relax. "They expect you to fail after Yamati and want to be there when you get back and what? Get the facts right then while others are all asking different questions? How is that fair on you?"

Smiling softly, "they aren't all like that; they are in a race so to speak for the company they work for. Who can get the biggest story out in the news before the next one, some will do anything to get the biggest story and will tell a lie in the story just to get people buying the paper. Others will take the time to interview you one on one, over the phone perhaps, or you set up a news conference and they each take turns to answer. It will get easier, I assure you," Lara explains as best she can and hopes she's explained it well enough.

The people in her village are competitive with games, some will cheat but always get found out in the end, she tries to wrap her head around the competitive job of a news reporter. Sofia looks out the window to see the busy world of a city. Drivers honking at one another, people walking across the street with a white thing in their mouth or having a small device like the walkie-talkie to their ear. Some of the kids are in little mobile devices, flashing signs advertising coffee shops, movies, art, and clothing. "Our worlds are quite different… what happened to nature?" Sofia asks in a saddened voice.

"Greedy companies, choosing to make more to host to other companies all for money. Everything is about money out here, sadly. But it's not all bad," Lara answers and Sofia looks at Lara to see through her window. A great big park that is enclosed in high solid rod iron fence, trees, benches, lush gardens and pebble walking paths. "I don't like it either, but if someone can make the push for this among everything else, I'm happy to see it."

As they got out of the city Sofia was happy to see more green, making her feel more at ease, less buildings, and after several minutes more they finally come to the large gates for the Croft mansion. A couple of statues sitting in the centre of some flowering bushes, and finally coming up the circulating driveway to the front door.

Lara pays the man and all three get out, Jonah grabbing the bags and Lara's butler comes out to assist, full head of white hair, slim but fit and tall. "Milady Croft, good to have you home again," he greets and Lara smiles at him.

"Good to be home, though I still miss it out there. Sofia this is Winston Smith, Winston this is Sofia, the young lady who'll be staying with us that you bought the clothes for," Lara introduces and he smiles kindly at her.

"I saw your arrival on the news, I hope the reporters didn't bother you too much," Winston says to Sofia and she sighs.

"It's a lot to take in, I'll admit, but I will want to try for something new," Sofia answers and he nods.

Gesturing into the house, "come, I have tea set and your room is prepared Miss. Sofia," Winston says and Lara shakes her head with an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Winston, I'll be getting to work right away on the projects I have set out to do, I'll take my tea though while I work," Lara says and he smiles at her as though expecting this.

"Which is why your tea is in your study room," Winston says and looks at Jonah, "I have a tea prepared for you as well Master Jonah."

Jonah sighs and laughs, "I was hoping you'd say that."

Hours have passed and Lara is staring at her laptop screen as she reads up on a young man's bio with Discovery World, her phone to her ear and Sofia comes walking into the room. Lara gave her a tour of the mansion, the backyard, the kitchen and everything else that might be of interest. Sofia was taken by Lara's training room and library; she knew that Lara was going to be busy preparing things for her people so she gave her space.

"Well I'm being very particular with those of whom I am selecting for this… yes I've seen these ruins myself, some are in terrible shape but others are in perfect shape. It's incredible… you will? I can interview you on…" Lara looks at her day planner, no longer used to using one anymore. "Tuesday?... yeah that works for me, thank you," she hangs up and sighs.

Sofia walks up behind her and finds her tea only half drunk and places a hand onto each of her shoulders and rubs gently. Lara leans into her and smiles, "well, I think I'm done with the people for Discovery, I went over stories, history and the interview will be the final thing to decide as to if he can be trusted. I have selected three, the next thing I need to work on is the placement for some of your people, and it'll need to be a smooth and gradual transition."

Shushing Lara, Sofia smiles at her, "relax, you haven't stopped working for hours," she rubs her shoulders a little harder and Lara groans, relaxing more to her touch. "That's it, don't overwork yourself."

Closing her eyes, Lara reaches her hand up to touch Sofia's and rests her head back against Sofia, "would you like to go on an adventure with Jonah and I?" to this Sofia wets her lips.

Looking up at the monitor and then the one portrait above the desk, she takes a long moment to consider the question, "possibly, but…" she purses her lips. Taking a deep breath, "I do miss home, I miss the outdoors, and I am surrounded by all of these strange new things, the sounds, the people, the environment… as much as I want to try and get used to a different kind of life I also am curious for an adventure," Sofia answered and Lara looks up at her.

"Thank you for being honest, and I understand," Lara says and her phone goes off, she groans and looks at the caller ID. "Hmm… what's this about?" she groans and gives it a quizzical look, "I'll let it go to my voice mail," looking up at Sofia she rests her head back against her.

"Where were you thinking of adventuring?" Sofia enquires and Lara glances over at her world globe at the far side of the room.

"I'm not sure yet, haven't even looked into it, but after setting up everything else. Sitting in front of the computer, making phone calls and arranging so much, I'll be in the need of an adventure, otherwise I may get out of shape again," Lara answers and Sofia kneels down next to her.

"I know your anxious to get more work done, and I'll condone it if you tell me what I am to inform Winston what you want for dinner," Sofia says and Lara chuckles and bites her bottom lip in thought.

Her mind bouncing from a juicy steak and baked potato, fish and chips and then to a burger. "Mmmm I have missed having a cheese burger and I'd love for you to try one as well, just let him know that I'll have it the way I always do and you should try out some of the toppings on something… perhaps a sandwich. I'll try to come down at 6:00 if that's alright," Lara looks at the clock to see it is currently 3:00.

Sofia smirks, "then it shall be done," she stands up and leaves Lara to get back to her research and informs Winston of what Lara requested. What she got out of him was 'sounds like old times, and she'll be late.'

While eating a sandwich, well taking a bite of her second quarter Jonah turns on the television and she sits down with him.

"It's quite the change, isn't it?" Jonah asks her and Sofia nods.

"Yes it is, I didn't know what I expected really, but everything you and Lara have done I do appreciate," Sofia turns and smiles at him.

Chuckling Jonah flips through the channels a bit and lands on the news, "you should have Lara take you out shopping tomorrow. I know it is going to be scary out there, but it seems no matter where a girl is from, they always enjoy shopping, and after all the work Lara is doing she'll need time away from that computer screen of hers."

Thinking about it, Sofia looks at him, "shopping for what though?"

Jonah felt like bonking himself on the forehead, "sorry, shopping for clothing, see what there is to offer, I know you won't need my opinion as its Lara your keen on."

Sofia blushes a little and takes another bite, "I'm… I'm still getting used to it, and I know that it isn't exactly smiled upon," she looks at him and Jonah leans forward.

"You care for her? You protected her when she needed it most, you both did a lot for one another and she doesn't take any of that for granted. From my perspective, if you think you have an attraction to her, don't be shy about showing it. I respect Lara a lot and I respect you, I'm happy she has someone in her life that is strong and capable like her," Jonah says and Sofia smiles at him.

"I do… and thank you," she takes another bite and starts to see footage of them leaving from the airplane. "Wait… that's us!"

Looking up at the screen, "yeah, she tells the world about something that seems impossible and so they made it out to be impossible. They put her name into the mud like her father for seeming to have talked nonsense," Jonah responds and Sofia is suddenly angered by this bit of information.

"But surely there's proof! You were there and Sam, Reyes!" Sofia stands up and Jonah nods, "surely with witnesses beside her it must have helped them to see her side of the truth!"

Glancing at the screen, Jonah sighs, "Lara didn't want Reyes and I to say anything, once her name was in the mud she didn't want that to happen to us either… and Sam was still a mess from almost having her soul torn out and gone… she is still getting over it." He looks up at her to see disapproval in her eyes. "I wanted to speak up, I tried to, but you know Lara." Jonah looks at the floor, "once she sets her mind on something, no matter how much you push, no matter how much sense you think you're trying to give her to go the other way, she won't let up. She'll put herself through the worst stuff, she'll put her mind and body through some terrifying conditions and she'll keep pushing."

Listening and looking back, she remembers how many times Lara had talks with her father about what she had to do, and that she'd go through with it without help. Her eyes soften, "your right… I'm sorry."

Stepping into the room, Sofia smiles at Lara partially slumped over in her chair, resting her head most likely in frustration at something, "you're late for dinner," she comments and notices that Lara doesn't flinch. Figuring she is really deep in thought and didn't hear her enter.

"Winston isn't going to be happy to see that you're letting your special burger get cold," Sofia walks up to her and sees that her computer screen is black with colourful lines dancing on it. "Hmmm," a confused expression as it doesn't look anything like what Lara had been looking at earlier, and doesn't look special, just random. "What's this got to do with-" stopping in her question she looks at Lara to see that her eyes are closed and her face is relaxed, no longer looking tired from her work earlier.

Looking at her neck Sofia winces, "that is going to hurt in the morning," the angle she fell asleep in will let her know she should have rested in bed. Glancing around the room she purses her lips deep in thought, knowing that if she stirs her she'll feel awful, and then feeling the air get cooler in the room and looking at Lara's leather jacket and hooded shirt she hurries into Lara's bedroom. Spotting her large bed and the covers on top, she grabs one and brings it back to the study room, gently resting it at the top of her neck and covering her shoulders and all the way down to be sure her legs won't get cold. Inspecting her hands she smiles, finding it quite the cute sight of her falling asleep at her desk. "Not the first and not the last time this'll happen I'm sure."

Please review! Tell me your thoughts, what you liked, disliked, what you'd like to see more of and if you have ideas on where the next adventure could be.


	4. Alternate Plans

Sofia stares at the men before her, all prettied up in their special suits, vests, ties and bow-ties, a few older than her father… well older looking than her father did. Standing and sitting in the living room, a glass of scotch, whiskey, and whatever other names that sounded made up to her. The fire is lit, the lights are dim and the whole atmosphere looks like that of 'some old chaps about to have their cigars' as Jonah had put it.

She doesn't like them, not in the mansion, not in this room looking so dignified or disgusted, leaning against a book shelf she looks at Jonah who is dressed up, simpler like herself, and he sighs. She is wearing a knee length long dress, one inch straps and a small v-neck as she doesn't want to be showing off too much skin, showing off her curves and giving her elegance, setting off her hair which is in its usual do up. Jonah is in a nice dress shirt and suit jacket with slacks.

"Are you sure this will work?" Sofia whispers to Jonah and she glances at the five men standing before them.

"It has to, or it will be a much longer and difficult road," Jonah answers as he straightens his back and walks towards a younger man, around his own age. Tall, slim, dark hair combed back, wearing a high collar white shirt, dark blue stripped vest with a matching jacket and slacks, freshly shaved face and an award winning smile as he watches Jonah approach.

"I'm sorry about the delay, you know how Lara is," Jonah apologizes and the young man shakes his head with a smile.

"Not a worry, I've known Lara for a few years now, though she's mostly dealt with my father up until he chose to believe that she was becoming an attention hog," he smiles and sees a look on Jonah's face that reads 'don't talk about Lara like that'. He holds up his hands in surrender, "I don't see her that way, honest, I have heard about what she is doing with Discovery and for some of the people. If I'm not mistaken," he glances at Sofia. "She came with you from there, didn't she?"

Not having to look over his shoulder, he keeps his eyes on the young man, "yes, she did," he tries to sound a little more upbeat, but in the corner of his eye he's watching a short portly man. He's got a large white mustache, white horseshoe of hair, and has a skittish way about him. If he was able to look closer he'd see he's sweating.

The young man snaps his fingers, "I knew it! I know my father doesn't approve of my being here, or anything else to do with the Croft name. But I am confident that if I can hear the real story and what it is your planning next I'll push past him to get you some of the funding you need or all of it if I can."

Jonah noticed that when the fingers snapped the portly man jumped, he swallows and puts on a smile, "that would be greatly appreciated Mr. Montour."

 _9 hours ago…_

 _Lara looks possibly giddy as Sofia turns in her dress, a dark green one, thin shoulder straps, matches her figure perfectly, with a low v neck but not too low and a light gloss and it fans out as she turns, "this looks really nice on you… but," pursing her lips she groans. "It isn't formal enough for tonight I'm afraid."_

 _Smiling away, "this is vastly different from anything I had back at home… it's so soft and just slid on! What do you call this material?" Sofia looks up, "wait what?" having just caught onto the last part of what Lara said._

" _I'm sorry, it isn't formal enough for the gathering of the gentlemen we're having come to the house tonight. But that doesn't mean I can't get it for you as a gift, it's similar to a summer dress just a little fancier. It's made of silk," Lara answers and Sofia's face brightened. "Do you want to have it as a gift?"_

 _Nodding excitedly, never having really showed this side of herself before, "yes, I love it!" she frowns a little, "why is it that we need to have these rich guys come to the house tonight anyways?"_

 _Lara frowns as Sofia goes to the nearby rack and pulls out a beautiful red dress and steps into the change room. Having already picked out her own dress, a midnight blue, form fitting that comes down to her own knees, it almost gives off a sparkle, straps but her neck is a rounded one that comes down a bit. Giving her a look of elegance and sophistication._

" _For us to go out on this next adventure we need funds to be able to go out and do it, yes I have some money but I also worked a lot and got funds for my first adventure. Since then my name went down, thanks to some of my savings and Jonah we were able to go on our adventure to see you. However I feel this one will be different, I don't know how but I was pretty unprepared for what I ran into with the lost city and everything. Having you and Jonah with me means I need to be extra careful and make sure we're all well prepared. So I contacted some of my father's old friends and associates to ask them to hear me out and see if they'll fund us."_

 _Sofia steps out with her hands up in a saucy pose which makes Lara blush, Sofia grins madly, "I like that look," and saunters up to Lara, circling her slowly, running her middle finger along her shoulders gently and she places a kiss onto her cheek. "Do we really need them?"_

 _Looking down Lara nods, "I'm afraid so, if I were to do it myself I'd need to get myself a job and wait for months to have what we need, and there's no way I'm waiting that long. Sure there's a chance something will come out of the archeologists going to document the ruins near your home, but still, I want to be sure."_

 _Using her index finger she lifts her chin and looks at her in the eye, before she knows it Sofia kisses her tenderly for a few seconds. Not caring whose watching or anyone is and pulls away slowly, "all will be fine," she smiles, "I'll put up with these puffed out chests and deep wallets if it means going out on an epic adventure with you," and Lara blinks at her using 'epic'. "What? Jonah taught me the word epic."_

 _Giving a small sigh Lara presses her forehead to Sofia's, "I still have to do last minute work when we get back. I might be late on meeting everyone else for the 'party' but I'll try to be quick so you won't have to deal with them and then… we can enjoy the rest of the evening to ourselves."_

…Up in the study Lara is still going over last minute details of how to sell the new adventure to the people downstairs. Not even in her dress yet, wearing a v neck grey shirt and jeans as her eyes go over the text on her screen.

"I'm missing something… what is the key to the argument?" Lara mumbles to herself and knits her eyebrows together in concentration. In hindsight she should have had it all prepared before arranging the meeting, but fretting over the facts and documents she'd uncovered she's afraid that it won't be enough and wants to be absolutely sure.

A figure comes in the window behind her, pulling out piano wire on two leather grip handles the figure moves up to her slowly.

Lara feels that someone is in the room, but assumes it is Sofia or Jonah, she sighs, "I know, I'm sorry… I should have planned this better, I'll be down there shortly to-" she sees the figure in her laptop screen, but doesn't have enough time to react as the wire is brought down around her neck. Cutting off her oxygen.

Reaching up she grabs his forearms while he pulls her back and then his wrists, kicking and pulling as she struggles to try and get free. Her eyes wide in fear and darting around trying to find anything she can use and finally she spots it, her tea cup. Yes it has been sitting for a couple of hours but Winston got her a warmer that plugs into the outlet to keep it a good temperature. Using her core muscles she pulls her legs up to get her feet onto the edge of the desk and pushes straight up.

The guy wasn't prepared for that and looses balance, taking a step back and then staggering forward, she manages to just barely catch the handle and whips the contents behind her nailing him in the face.

He releases his grip on the one handle and she falls to her knees gasping for air and coughing to try and get more oxygen in quickly. But her mind catches up quickly 'man in the house, have to subdue him!' she turns and watches him pull his hands away from his face and swing for her, she smashes the tea cup into the side of his head which makes him grimace and lose focus.

Downstairs Sofia has finally been approached by one of the older gentlemen, a tall, skinny man with thinning white hair, and a small mustache, spectacles on his long pointed nose and a black plaid vest and suit jacket combination. "How long have you known Miss. Croft?" he asks, looking down his nose at her, she gets a chill up her spine, wanting to put him into his place and threaten him for giving a snooty look. She wonders why he is even here as he clearly doesn't look to want to be there.

"I don't see how the duration I've known her for reflects on tonight," Sofia says in her most dignified voice she can muster.

He smirks a little at her answer, "oh I just want to be sure that those working with Miss. Croft are going to be as determined as her to get results, after all the team she hired for the last one abandoned her on the mountain."

Upstairs Lara gets tackled to the floor after the teacup hit him and she rolls with him on the floor, until she is on top and she throws a punch, but it is sloppy as he kneed her in the back. She doesn't hit him and he strikes her in the jaw, she falls over from the force of the hit but scrambles to stay on her feet.

Growling in frustration he gets back up and charges, she evades before grabbing a glass vase and swinging it back at him, but he'd already turned around and knocks it out of the air to deliver a front kick to her chest. She staggers back and hits the small wooden stand that the vase was on, but she recovers quickly and as he moves in to grab she evades by crouching and thrusting her fist up and catching him in the chin.

Staggering back, Lara moves in but is unprepared for the back hand that sends her crashing onto the floor.

Downstairs Sofia looks at Jonah who makes eye contact and glances upstairs. She takes a deep breath, "I'm going to check on Lara," feeling grateful for the escape and starts up the stairs.

The man pulls out a dagger and just as Lara rolls onto her back he brings it down for her chest, but she catches his wrists. He shifts his feet around to being directly over her and grits his teeth. Lara focuses on pushing away but he puts his weight onto the dagger and it starts to move up to rest directly above her throat, her hands and quickly her arms shaking.

Grunting and whimpering, Lara looks at his face that has the cold tea drying and a scared but determined look in his eyes. Her chest is heaving and her arms are trembling, the tip of the dagger just a hair strand away, the door opens.

"Lara these," Sofia's eyes widen at the sight ahead of her, but her brief second of shock is quickly changed to anger. Her stepping in distracted him long enough for Lara to move the dagger to the floor next to her and he looks back at Lara to get her right elbow to his temple and then a kick to the gut from Sofia making him roll onto his back next to Lara.

Wasting no time Sofia straddles him, right knee down and left knee bent to punch him a few times in the face while Lara slowly picks herself up, "easy Sofia," Lara breaths and touches her neck to be sure there's no blood.

Sofia stops punching and grabs him by the collar of his black turtleneck, "who sent you? Trinity?" she demands in his face.

He shakes his head, sporting a bleeding lip and a broken nose thanks to Sofia, "I'm not telling you anything!" he spits and Sofia punches him square in the chin. Knocking him out and letting go of his shirt to watch him drop.

Lara takes a seat in a wooden chair and rubs her face, "attacked in my house again… is this my new normal?" she asks herself while Sofia grabs up the charging cord for the laptop, rolls him to his stomach and ties his wrists and ankles together. Going to Lara she kneels down before her and looks up at her.

"Are you okay?" Sofia touches her cheek and sees where she's been hit twice, wishing she'd been up in the room with her the whole time.

"Yeah, not my first rodeo, I got lucky that time as Jonah came back after an argument with me. He found the man at that time strangling me and… I was about to slip away from lack of oxygen then. Thank you for coming to my aid… again," Lara smiles at the last bit and Sofia gives her a sad smile. "There's nothing you could have done, I asked you and Jonah to go down there ahead of me…" she purses her lips in thought.

Lara looks at Sofia, "I never broadcast about this recent adventure we want to take, so the question is," she looks at the unconscious man on the floor. "Whose his employer?" looking back at Sofia her eyes widen, "it has to be someone I invited, either one of them leaked it or one of them has to be behind it." With a fire in her eyes Lara stands up with Sofia and they hurry down the stairs.

Once in the room the men are startled by her not being dressed up for the occasion, her eyes scan every face, every position and demeanor, "Jonah, please go up to my study to watch over the man who just tried to kill me," Lara instructs and the men look at one another stunned. Except for the portly one, who looks irritated and scared at the same time.

Jonah would have stopped to ask Lara if she was alright, but he also doesn't want to let the creep have a chance of escaping and hurries up to the study for guard duty.

Mr. Montour hurries over but keeps his distance as he knows it's a serious time, "I swear to you Lara, I hold nothing but respect for you," and she holds her hand up to stop him. Then glances at everyone else and Sofia folds her arms across her chest.

"This is absurd! Why would any of us wish to put you to harm?" the tall and slender man from earlier asks incredulously.

Watching him closely, Sofia is ready to knock him on his ass, though she knows Lara won't allow it. Lara smiles at him, "well someone here must believe that I am onto something. That someone," she starts to eye each man there until the portly one starts to get fidgety. Mr. Santfur. "Wants my knowledge of what I have learned so they can fund their own expedition and find it for himself," she watches his eyes look up at her and he scowls at her.

"Don't you give me that look! Your father respected me and I respected him! Don't go pointing fingers!" Mr. Santfur almost shouts which alarms everyone else in the room.

Lara stands before him, not flinching and looks at him with disgust, "you're a liar," and he blinks while everyone is staring at him. "I remember that you specifically said to the paper that you were good chums with my father, but that his recent research was only going to drain his wallet and… how did you put it?" she looks at him inquisitively but he glares instead. "That you now only saw a mad fool who lost your respect the moment he started looking into impossible things and became obsessed with them."

Mr. Santfur steps up to her and Sofia moves right behind Lara with Mr. Montour, "then why did you invite me here?" his voice deep with anger.

Knitting her eye brows together, "my recent findings on something impossible turned up incredible things, I had been hoping you would turn over a leaf, that you'd regretted what you did with my father. Maybe you would see he wasn't crazy after all and want to make it up… but now I see I held my hopes far too high, the greed in your heart is beyond my own imagination. I just cannot believe you'd stoop so low as to try and have me killed."

His mood changing dramatically, a smirk forming, "you have no proof of this, now before you continue to waste my time any further, I will be going."

Mr. Montour steps forward, "I shall escort you out," he looks at Lara and tries to give a reassuring smile.

* * *

Lying on her back on her bed, Lara groans while resting her right forearm onto her forehead, "well that was an exciting evening," she groans and Sofia moves onto the other side of the bed and sets herself next to her. Using her right elbow to prop her head up as she looks at Lara with worry.

"Are you going to be okay? I know that you are strong, that you've dealt with a lot of stuff out there but here… with people who you're supposed to trust attacking you?" Sofia asks and Lara lowers her arm.

"My new normal, you uncover something of great value and finally prove that what it is your researching could actually be real paints a large target on your back. People with money, possibly others like Trinity will do _anything_ to get their hands on it if it means immortality, gold, it all adds up to greed. The trick for me is to find it before they do just like the Divine Source," Lara says and Sofia closes her eyes for a moment.

Collecting her thoughts, having seen Lara come in to save her beneath the tower during the first big fight with Trinity, making quick work and showing what she is capable of. She smiles a little and blushes at the memory of it all, the scuffs, scrapes, bruises and cuts with the dirt all leaving their mark on Lara when she came to help her. It showed her that she wasn't afraid of any challenge that awaited her; she'd take on the enemies to learn more, advance more and get closer to her goal. Putting her body and head through hell and persevering, all of this adding up gives her a warm feeling in her stomach.

Opening her eyes she looks at Lara again and even with all of the elements gone, cleaned up aside from a couple new bruises forming, she feels drawn to her just like back in the tent when tending to her back. "I care about you a lot Lara, no matter how many times or how hard you fall, you always get back up and push even harder. I admire you greatly and I won't deny how much I want you right now," she watches Lara's cheeks go rosy. "At the same time, I feel you also need your rest," leaning down she gives her a kiss.

Returning the kiss, Lara holds the back of her head to keep her just a few seconds longer, savouring the feel of her lips against her own, the braids and strands of hair framing her face and tickling ever so slightly, and the warmth she brings to her face. Finally she lets go of the back of her head and Sofia pulls away slowly.

"Good night Lara Croft."

* * *

Please review! I want to know what you think of the direction I'm putting it into, though I won't deny I'm considering a pretty dark chapter to follow. What did you enjoy the most? What would you like to see more of?


	5. Torture

This chapter contains torture, if this upsets you then continue onto the next chapter once it is up.

* * *

Chin resting on her chest, head in a daze, loss of circulation in both arms, and something is digging into both wrists making it very uncomfortable. "What's… what's going on?" Lara mumbles as she lifts her head slowly to get her bearings, in a stone brick room, smells damp and feels cold. A chill running through her and goose bumps spreading over all of her body.

Taking some deep slow breaths Lara closes her eyes, thinking back to her last memories. 'Wasn't I with Sofia… she left me to sleep… no,' her eyes widen.

 _Lying in bed, sleeping happily, a few dark figures move around her bed, lightning flashes through the bedroom windows followed by a huge crash of thunder which makes Lara jump. Having been chased so many times by bullets and missals in her adventures, she suddenly felt as though she was out there in the wild and her enemy was getting closer to the hidden location._

 _The next flash of lightning shows off the figures standing around her bed, the one next to her shoves a damp cloth over her mouth and nose. She reaches out to shove it off and kicks the other man to her left in the nose making blood gush down his face, the third one jumps onto the bed and grabs her legs to pin them down. She kicks as hard as she can but cannot get him off, the one doing the initial attack pins her right arm behind her back while he uses his free hand to force the cloth back over her face._

 _She struggles to get it off the second time, and within seconds her strength fades and her eyes grow heavy, slumping to the bed they pick her up. Binding her wrists behind her back and putting a bag over her head before going back out through the window, the last man going out with the bloody nose hears the door open and has his face illuminated long enough for Jonah whose stepping in to check on Lara to see his face._

 _Attention darting to the bed and seeing it is empty, "NO!" he screams and takes off for the window, he looks out there in the pouring rain trying to make any shapes out. "LARA!" he jumps out of the window and lands in a thick bush below to tumble to the ground that is slick from the rain. Stumbling out he looks up just in time to see a van speed out down the driveway, he takes off after it but it's too late. He strains his eyes memorizing just part of the license plate._

" _JONAH!" he can just barely hear from the window, he looks up to see Sofia leaning out, but beyond that he cannot see anything else._

 _Walking back into the mansion Winston and Sofia meet him in the lobby, both distressed as to his yelling, a pained look in his eyes of not being able to do something more. "Lara has been kidnapped."_

Looking around Lara examines the steel cuffs holding her to the ceiling from a chain, then looks down to see her ankles are also attached to the floor, but not in cuffs, it looks to be wire instead. She starts pulling and moving her legs forward and back to see that there is a small part of the loop holding her down that has a gap. Sticking her tongue out in concentration she focuses on trying to move it to the gap until she hears the door open and stops immediately.

Walking in is Mr. Santfur, grinning happily as though he has caught a prize Bass or taken down a large Buck. Two other men come in behind him wearing full out black and ski masks, "Good evening! Today is a brilliant start to a new day!" he chirps and Lara glares at him.

"What do you want with me?" Lara says in a cold tone.

Blinking as though surprised, "why isn't it obvious?"

Lara feels a chill go down her spine, "you're going to go this far to get King Midas's hand?"

He barks out a laugh, "my dear, I'm willing to go to any lengths for what I really, _really_ want. I however work different from Trinity," he watches her scowl at him. "You look as though I just put a bar of soap into your mouth, I am not working with them, I have someone else who is breathing down my neck for it. However once I have the hand I can buy off everyone they own to work and do my bidding," a greedy gleam comes to his eyes. "All you have to do is tell me where you think it is, and I'll set you free, no harm done."

Scoffing, Lara watches the men bring large cases into the room that snap shut, and set them onto tables. "If I refuse, you're going to torture me for the information?" she gives him a glare.

Smirking, "No, I don't like getting my hands dirty," holding up his hands as though to express, "these two will however," he looks at one and then the other.

An electric zapping sound can be heard and Lara straightens her back, as best she can, fear gripping her heart. "I will never tell you where it is," she spits and he barks out another laugh.

"I know… well rather I knew you'd say that. So it seems I'll need to break you first, no big deal," he grins a menacing smile, and Lara gets a feeling she may not come out of this in one piece or even alive. She feels a guilty pang in her heart just before feeling a prong pressed into her lower middle back and then the charge goes off. Clenching her jaw as the electricity makes her internal organs and veins feel like they're on fire; it lasts a few seconds before she gets a reprieve. "Tell me where it is."

Meanwhile Mr. Montour has just stepped through the front door of the Croft mansion, wearing a red, black and white sweater vest with a white collared shirt under it and dark grey slacks. He had spoken to Winston on the intercom at the gate and smiles when he approaches, "would it be possible to see Lady Croft?" and is met with a frown.

"I'm afraid not Master Montour," Winston replies, "I'm sorry you came out here to see her today but it isn't possible."

Frowning, Mr. Montour puts his hands into his pockets, "I take it she's still at her research," he gives a sad smile knowing how she can get obsessive.

Giving a small sigh he shakes his head, "no," he walks over to the young man. "We don't want this going public, but Lady Croft was taken in the night and we're trying to find out where she's being held."

Eyes growing wide in alarm, "what? What do you have to go on? How can I help?" Mr. Montour asks and Winston takes a small breath.

Winston knows that Lara and Roger spent a lot of time together as kids when their fathers were working together on their finds. "Jonah got a partial on a license plate but we're having a hard time getting into the record database to run down the numbers," Winston answers and Mr. Montour snaps his fingers.

"That's easy, my best friend is a cop, he owes me a favour," Mr. Montour says excitedly, "where are you conducting your work?" and Winston starts to indicate the study and the young man takes off while pulling out his cell phone to get his buddy on the phone.

Sofia is pacing in the room, she hasn't slept a wink and instead has eaten half of an egg salad sandwich and she's been drinking espresso to keep herself wired. Jonah is doing is best with the computer but isn't coming up with anything useful. "I should have had Lara teach me some of her tricks on the computer, this is her area of expertise," Jonah groans and clenches his fists in frustration.

"You've got me now, what do you remember of the license plate?" Mr. Montour asks and Sofia looks at him like how she first saw Lara. An outsider.

"Why should we trust you?" Sofia asks and Jonah hands over the piece of paper he wrote it on.

"I have a friend who's a cop and he owes me a favour, I'll ask him to run a search on the number. What about the man that Jonah was watching last night, anything on him?" Montour asks and Jonah rubs at his eyes.

"Sadly no, we heard from the cops that on the way to the station he had a poison pill in a pouch on his shoulder, he took it in the back seat," Jonah answers feeling more and more at a loss and worried sick as to what is happening to Lara.

"Jimmie! Hey I need a favour, I've got a partial on a license plate and I need to find the owner…" Montour explains and after a few moments he hangs up. "He's emailing me the addresses, apparently there are four vehicles within and outside of the city that match up."

Sofia's jaw drops, "this place is huge though! How are we to know who it is?" she says in an almost outrage but both guys remain calm.

"He's checking for any GPS on each vehicle that is registered, and then he'll get back to me," Montour answers and puts his hands into his pockets, pursing his lips.

"How can you be so calm? How do we know that you're not in on this? Lara is going through who knows what and all we can do is wait and twiddle our thumbs!" Sofia asks and gets into his face, he backs up a bit and Jonah does nothing to stop her.

Meanwhile an agonized scream rips out past Lara's lips as a crow bar was slammed into her lower back for the third time. Mr. Santfur grins as he pulls away his audio recorder and stops it when her scream ends, "well that'll be a nice touch for later," he watches her hang in her chains limply. "Maybe I'm not using the right kind of torture to get you to talk," he starts to pace very slowly.

Wetting his lips as he thinks back to the night previous and the young woman with Lara who'd been helping Jonah entertain, he looks up at Lara, "hmmm that young lady who was with you. Sofia?" he asks and watches Lara's head rise, her hands clenching.

"Don't you touch her…" Lara warns in a dark threatening tone.

He claps his hands together, "but Lara, I need you to talk, and if bringing her here will get you to tell me what I want to hear then I'll sure as hell do it!"

Fighting in her restraints, kicking and pulling as he starts for the door, "just tell me what I want to hear and this will all be over. Douse her," he says and before she knows it a bucket of ice water is dumped onto her head.

Shaking like a leaf, the cold going right to her bones, bangs plastered to her face. "You're a fucking coward!" she yells and he stops.

Turning to face her, "to be in my line of work, you need to know exactly what you are. Yes, I am a coward," he smiles and tosses the audio recorder to one of the men. "Record what you can till I get back," and he's gone.

Struggling in her restraints Lara hears a stool or something get pulled up behind her, "stop this please! When he's done with you he'll just discard you! He doesn't care about either of you!" She feels hands move up her biceps and then her forearms, well just barely as her arms are throbbing from lack of circulation and the cold ice water.

One of the men stands before her and she isn't sure but it looks like he's smiling, "we don't work for him. He works for us," he says in an Australian accent.

Feeling her fingers get uncurled from her left hand, Lara struggles to get away from him more, her heart pounding and beating against her ribs as though it is going to explode as she knows what he's intending to do. "Please don't! Please stop this!" she hates herself for begging and feels some cold glide over her pinky and she looks down at the man before her who has just turned on the audio recorder. Glancing down further she manoeuvres her feet as much as she can to try and get them free and surprises herself at getting the wire to the edge of the gap in the metal loop.

She feels the snap before she hears it, bone crunching and breaking, the sound echoes in the room. Lara cries out in pain, whimpering as the jolt of the bone being broken sent a shock all the way down her arm and the other fingers clench tightly, tears rolling down her face. She feels the cold device slipping under her curled ring finger, looking back down again she sees the wire is still in place, she lets out a breath and wills herself to ignore her aching body to let herself drop just a smidge and pull up. She does it.

The wire is freed, taking in a deep breath and feeling her body charge up on adrenaline, she pulls her legs up and startles the man before her by wrapping her legs around his neck and squeezing hard. The other one stumbles off the stool in surprise, and stands up quickly to grab for the crow bar. Lara looks over and sees this to swing herself and do her best to pick up the man and drop him onto his partner just before the partner turned around. Both fall onto the table of tools.

Hoisting herself up and planting her feet onto the ceiling she pulls, and feels herself relying heavily on her back as her arms feel like dead weights. Gritting her teeth she pushing as hard as she can with her legs and finally gets the grinding sensation of the rusty nails holding her up sliding out of the ceiling, "amateurs," she mumbles and falls. Her back hits the metal loop, she cries out in shock and groans at the deep bruise that is sure to form quickly but has the pain pushed aside to focus on the matter at hand as she falls onto her side.

The two men stand up and she whips the steel around her wrists and the rusting edge catches the first guy in the ear making him stumble and hit the wall. The other charges at her and knocks her onto her back, using her chains she presses them into his neck as he grabs for her shirt. Lara acts quickly and moves her right hand around his head to wrap the chain and pulls.

His eyes go wide as he tries to loosen it and she rolls to push him onto his back, pulling and using her right knee to press into his upper chest and she watches his arms flail about. After a few short moments she then feels a kick to the ribs, she rolls over but is still attached to the other man, looking up there's blood soaking through the partners' ski mask.

Lifting up the shock rod, Lara's eyes widen, she tries to get up but he shoves it down to her stomach and her body goes stiff and rigid, clenching her teeth for the several seconds he does it till Mr. Santfur comes walking in.

"Bring her to the other room then," he sighs and watches the rod get pulled away, she takes deep breaths and looks up at him with tears rolling down her face. "Unless you'd like to talk."

Meanwhile Roger's phone goes off and he skims over the names and addresses that were sent to him as matches and his jaw drops. "Oh shit…" he looks up at Sofia who is looking more and more agitated by the minute. "The one car is located at Mr. Santfur's safe houses."

Jonah stands up, "then let's go in there!" he takes off for the Croft weapons room and the other two follow, "Sofia I know I can't ask you to stay here, as you won't hear it, but I need to know that you can work a gun," he says and steps into the room. He unlocks the cabinet doors and starts to take down a shotgun, handgun, assault rifle and the ammo to go with each one.

Grabbing up a bow and arrow for herself, "I can shoot really fast with my arrows and I can shoot up to three at a time, I'll manage," she pulls the quivers over her shoulder and looks at Mr. Montour. "You're not against us going in 'guns blazing'?"

Roger takes the assault rifle and finds a couple of vests, "after last night, I have no doubt about what he could be doing to Lara. Knowing that gives me more than enough reason to know this is going to end in blood," he answers and attaches a few clips of rifle ammo to a belt.

They hurry out of the mansion quickly, taking an SUV they head off for the location that is sadly across town, which has Jonah take the back roads to avoid the heavy traffic and traffic lights.

* * *

Feeling his hand grip the back of her head tightly before shoving it down into the ice cold depths of the steel bucket, Lara does her best to hold her breath again, struggling to get free as her hands are now stuck behind her back in the chains. She waits as the seconds pass and feels her lungs start protesting, begging for air. Her legs start twitching, kicking and her back jerks. Lara's arms try to grab for anything and her head shakes vigorously, finally she is forced to open her mouth and let the last of her oxygen out to bubble on the surface.

The ice cold water hitting her throat, sinuses and starts to go into her lungs. Her whole head is numb and she doesn't even notice she's been pulled out, coughing the water out of her lungs, and gagging on it. Shaking there on her knees she looks up at Mr. Santfur who makes a ticking sound with his tongue.

"Talk and this will be over," Mr. Santfur reminds her as Lara continues to cough up water.

"You were never a friend to my father if you can do this to me," she spits and he chuckles.

"Your father and I kept everything business, nothing more. I had no loyalties to him, nor to you," he reaches forward and shoves her back in she doesn't have time to get a breath.

Immediately struggling, she tries to plant her knees down to lift her back but he shoves her back down till the top half of her body is in the water. Knowing if she isn't taken out soon she is going to drown, she screams into the water as a last ditch effort for the torture man to yank her back out, her head is too foggy and cold to make out their argument.

Face numb and spitting water out, coughing up the cold water still from in her lungs that she didn't get out earlier, Lara gets pulled up to return to hanging from the ceiling. She looks at the large ice bucket that she'd just been dunked into several times.

"You surprise me Lara, you really do. I never thought you would last this long," Mr. Santfur comments as he walks up to her and is startled when she spits water into his face. "And still feisty," he glares and against his own judgement he punches her in the face, splitting her lip instantly and making her teeth cut the inside of her cheek.

"You're a bastard!" Lara yells, he grins until she spits the blood at him. He growls angrily then, feeling his blood boil he wants to keep attacking, but looks at the only torture man left now.

He snarls, "hit her!"

The man moves around in front of her while Mr. Santfur takes a few steps back, "TALK!" he screams, his patients wearing thin as he watches his man punch her in the stomach, again, and again and stops.

Mr. Santfur blinks, he didn't expect the man to stop, "why are you stopping?" he sneers.

Turning to face the older, portly man, "because this isn't going to break her," he answers, looking back at her. "After what we've done to her, she's obviously had her mind and body pushed very far before and she kept going. She was not going to give up then; she's not going to give up now. If I continue to beat her that is all it will be, beating her up for the sake of it. There's nothing to gain out of it but a bloody and broken body."

Stalking up to him, pointing his index finger up at him, "we are going to break her! And you're going to be the one to do it! Break more fingers if you have to! Introduce fire! I don't care what it takes, everyone breaks!" he spits and without warning he gets back handed in the face. Staggering back, touching his lip he looks up at the torture man.

Standing to tower above him, "you old man, don't tell me what to do. This is a partnership and you're the lowest on the totem pole, don't forget your place," he warns and for the first time Mr. Santfur has fear in his eyes.

Turning back to Lara, the torture man smiles behind his mask and walks over to her, he takes the rim of her shirt and lifts it just a bit to see her slender, toned abs glistening in the moisture of the cold water. Goosebumps line her skin and he lifts the shirt a tad more, watching her stomach move in and out in rhythm with her breathing.

Lara stares at him slightly out of it now, and inclines her head, taking deeper breathes as she is hoping he isn't about to touch her in that way. His face moves up to look at her and his hands move to rest on her hips.

"No," he whispers, "I don't do that," he says and as he tugs her shirt back down, he watches her breathe a sigh of relief. Alarms go off in the basement, lights flashing down the hallway and Mr. Santfur's eyes go wide.

"They're here!" Mr. Santfur stands up and takes off to the room across from them, a small computer room and pulls the audio recorder out. "Let's see how well they can concentrate when they hear her screams?" he grins maliciously and turns on the speaker and then hits play.

Lara's screams echo through all of the hallways, into every person's ear among the gunshots. Running back to the room he watches the man doing the torture watching Lara, "this is not going to end well, but if we kill her then my boss will not get what he wants." He turns to Mr. Santfur, "she lives, and she has to, but if you can you must catch her friends off guard. We need that leverage you mentioned earlier."

Mr. Santfur looks stunned by this, "you expect me to do what!" he almost shouts in outrage and the man goes behind Lara, her breathing becoming laboured and head dipping towards her chest. All she wants to do is rest, almost feeling worse than her first adventure, taking some deep breathings she hears the man doing something behind her, but right now she knows that whatever it is she isn't going to be able to escape unless if someone comes barging through the door.

Opening her eyes which she hadn't realized she'd closed the portly man is gone, pursing her lips she starts to feel heat behind her, instinct tells her to get closer but alarms go off in her mind a split second later. "No…" she twists as much as she can and feels him grab her roughly.

"Not…" he whispers, "just… yet," he watches the door and waits, listening to her screams continuing in the hallway, gun shots are drawing closer and her heart is beating wildly in her chest. The heat source moves along her back and then along her right side, her body tenses up and gradually they stop hearing shots.

The door is kicked in with Sofia standing there at the ready with her bow and arrow, her eyes take in the room. The sight of Lara hanging from the ceiling by her wrists, the holes in her shirt from the shock rod, that she is soaked and shaking from the cold, a split lower lip, her left hand pinky is red and black, bruising on her face and she can't fathom the wounds she cannot see behind the clothes. Her eyes move to the torture man behind Lara and she spots a very hot iron poker moving down Lara's hip, "release her now," Sofia says in a threatening tone. He's too well hidden behind Lara and needs just the right moment to let her arrow fly.

"Sofia…" Lara says, her voice almost broken and sees the door behind her opening, eyes wide in alarm, "behind you!" she yells. Lara then feels the heat press into the side of her right thigh and she screams, unable to see what is happening in front of her, Jonah having hid behind Sofia and took the warning to put his shotgun to Mr. Santfur and Roger pulling up the rear.

"Drop your weapons!" the torture man says after removing the hot weapon from Lara's leg.

She swallows back bile, hating the whimper that escapes and rests her head against her right arm, "don't," she whispers and Sofia takes a step forward.

"I will do it again! Step back and drop your weapon!" he warns and pulls it up to hover it over Lara's middle of the lower back.

Back arching at trying to get away from it, her eyes dart back and forth and she watches Sofia and sees her mind is tactical. "He won't kill me, his boss needs me alive for-" she clenches her teeth as she feels the heat start to touch, "for the information! Kill him!" she shouts and starts to cry out when he presses it but then he screams and falls away. An arrow in his leg and Jonah runs in to bind him.

Chest heaving, Lara slumps in her cuffs and looks at Sofia with tired eyes, "Sofia…" she just barely whispers, feeling her strength waning and in the background watches Roger bind Mr. Santfur's wrists together.

Sofia approaches her quickly, taking in more of her condition the closer she gets, her hands shaking as she first undoes her ankles and then Jonah stands on the stool behind Lara. "Hang on, I've got this, you catch her," Jonah instructs and hurriedly frees her raw and bleeding wrists.

Catching her easily, Lara drops into her like a lead weight, she wants to stand up herself but her adrenaline is fading quickly so instead she wraps her arms around her. "I've got you," Sofia whispers, "we're taking you home," and hugs her, not tightly as she doesn't wish to aggravate any injuries beneath the surface before manoeuvring Lara to lie in her arms bridal style.

"I have a personal doctor I can call up, have him come to the house and set her up there," Roger says and Lara is fighting to stay awake. She gives a small smile to Roger before slipping off.

Jonah lifts the torturer up and Roger escorts Mr. Santfur out, Sofia watches Lara's features the whole time, never wanting to take her eyes off of her again. She bends her head down and places a kiss onto her forehead, "I've got you, and I'm not letting you go," very faintly she swears she saw a smile tug at Lara's lips.

* * *

Please review! I hope in a way you enjoyed this. Please tell me your thoughts.


	6. Recovery

Sitting before the doctor, Lara sits up with a partially straight back, not wanting to let on how bad the bruise is on her lower back and Sofia sitting by her. "It would be easiest if we cut away the clothing, I don't want to strain you more than you need to be by removing the top layers," he suggests calmly.

Placing her hands onto her knees, pursing her lips, "okay doc…" she closes her eyes and feels Sofia's hand take her right one with her own right.

Squeezing her hand back, Lara feels him tug the bottom hem of her shirt, Sofia watches him pull out the large set of steel scissors and cut straight up the shirt. Moving right to the top and allowing the straps to slip up and over her shoulders, Sofia stares and takes in the very large dark lump on her lower back. The small red markings in various areas of her back from the shock rod, also another large bruise in the middle of her back from landing on the metal ring. The last eye soar on her back is what was to to be the start of a nasty burn. Bruising on her abdomen and upper chest area from being struck by the torturer, and a single marking on her abdomen from being shocked there when trying to escape.

The doctor doesn't dare touch the bruising, looking tender as it is, he instead examines the red markings from the shock rod and pulls out disinfectant, gauze, burn cream, polysporin, tape, a roll of gauze and scissors. "I'm going to require that someone places ice packs wrapped in a small towel onto these bruises on your back, on for ten minutes, off for ten minutes, over and over to reduce the swelling," he takes out the disinfectant and starts to dab at the redness.

Lara hisses without meaning to, clenching her jaw and Sofia sees her bangs are curtaining her face. Looking as though she's trying to hide how much it hurts, reaching her free hand over she tugs it aside to pull and lock behind her ear. "I'll do it," she says softly and Lara manages a tiny smile before grimacing again, the doctor moving around to in front of her to dab around the one there.

"I'll go and get the ice, and you apply it while I wrap the gauze around her. I want to keep these small holes from getting infected. After when the bruising is down I'll bring in my X-Ray machine to check for any broken bones, what did the assailant use on your back?"

Wetting her lips and taking a slow deep breath, "a crow bar… three hits," she says, her body giving her much discomfort, as much as she wants to hide it from Sofia she knows she is seeing right through her.

The doctor closes his eyes and stands up, "I'm sorry Lady Croft, I'll return shortly," he walks out calmly and Sofia hovers her hand over her very large bruise on her lower back. Feeling the heat coming off of it.

"What aren't you telling me?" Sofia asks softly, she can see that Lara's walls are slowly crumbling, her usually strong and confident demeanor shaking. Her hands on her knees shaking, closing her eyes she wets her lips again and takes some deep breaths.

"My body… it just hurts," Lara answers and purses her lips. "On Yamati I had to keep moving, I was always on alert, keeping my eyes open and not really resting even when I was with my group." Swallowing, Lara looks back to her time on the mountain, "I did the same thing back when I was searching for the Divine Source, even when I fell asleep I was haunted by memories by my father, it was never restful." Looking at Sofia finally, "now both the man who tortured me and Mr. Santfur are both being watched and have been stripped of any suicide pills. I'm in my own home, getting my injuries tended to the same day… having the time to actually process and relax… I'm feeling the aches, I'm feeling the fatigue, and it's all coming in on me at once."

Lara winces and touches her side, Sofia moves to her right thigh and uses the same scissors to very carefully open a hole and when the pants tug on the burnt skin she stops. Hearing Lara whimper, but not letting it escape her mouth. "Showing pain isn't weakness Lara, you went through hell," Sofia says in a calm and gentle tone.

Smiling a tad, "I know… normally it isn't a big thing for me," she looks down at Sofia. "Being taken from my own place, in my bed… by someone I once felt I could trust leaves me to question who can I truly trust outside my close circle of friends and family? Who else is willing to stab me in the back to go the lengths to get King Midas's golden hand? Who is this new company that Mr. Santfur works for who also knows the value in keeping me alive? I can't let them get to it, I need to get it first to protect it from those who would use it for greed and power," Lara wants to put her forehead into her left hand, but the pinky hasn't been set yet. "I brought you into this mess Sofia, and I'm putting your life into incredible danger as well, they know that they can use you against me to make me talk."

Sitting up and looking at Lara in the eye, "Lara it was my choice to come here. My choice to stay with you, and from here on out I'm not letting you out of my sight." She reaches up and touches Lara's face, making eye contact with her, "what else are you holding back? I promise I am not leaving you and no," she speaks in a firm voice now, "I'm not saying I'm becoming your personal body guard, I'm not saying your weak and you know damn well you're not as you keep fighting the odds to escape no matter the circumstances." Sofia feels her eyes water just a bit, "I am promising not to leave you because of how much I care about you Lara, I know you told my father that you work better alone. Yes you do wonders on your own and achieve incredible feats, but from now until the end of this adventure… maybe even after," a small smile tugs at the corner of her lips, "let's see what the future has in store."

Lara smiles at her and feels a relief wash over her that she didn't know was there, to hear that Sofia cares for her and that she wants to stick by her in that way is comforting. Especially as they go through the next trials together. "Thank you… as for what else I have been holding back," she swallows, "the man who you shot with the arrow, just before the alarm went off, he… I don't know… I think he was testing me. He lifted my shirt just high enough to expose my abdomen. He studied me and held me in a way that I feared he was going to touch me or something… but he said 'no… I don't do that' and put my shirt back down," her body gives an involuntary shudder. "I was terrified, in that moment to suddenly become an even greater victim, but when he pulled away and the way he said it," she looks at Sofia. "I was relieved and stunned, why would he go and do that if he wasn't going to do anything at all in the end?"

Giving Lara a quizzical look in return, "why indeed… maybe he knew something, that we were coming… it is very suspicious," she thinks it over and hears the door open behind her. The X-Ray machine being pulled in and a few ice-packs in a small cooler.

"I didn't want you to have to worry about getting up to leave to get fresh ice so I had Roger… I mean Mr. Montour go out and get a supply and to pick up my X-Ray machine as I also need to get your finger tended to," the doctor explains and spots the hole in her pants from the additional burn. "My dear I'm glad you didn't yank that off, I have a special liquid meant to loosen fabric from skin in this condition."

Setting up his X-Ray he does a few different views on her hand and back, after over an hour of work Lara is lying in her bed with her left pinky fixed. A fresh ice pack is on her lower back numbing her perfectly, bandages wrapped around her abdomen and upper back for the spots where she got shocked and burned. Right thigh bandaged and finally a dose of pain killers in her system making her feel a little more comfortable.

Eyes are closed and right hand holds Sofia's, she watched everything the doctor did, learning everything he did and asked questions as to why he did certain things. After a while the bruising finally goes down and Lara turns onto her left side, tired of lying on her back and Sofia lies down behind her under the covers, spooning her and wrapping a protective but loose right arm around her.

"Good night Lara Croft, I'll be here when you wake up," she gives a light kiss to the shoulder before resting her head against the pillow under her own head and they both drift off.

* * *

"He hasn't spoken yet?" Lara asks as she sits up in her bed having breakfast in bed, truthfully she wanted to go to the kitchen herself. As soon as her right thigh protested Sofia stopped her and called for Winston. Now eating two sunny side up eggs, two pieces of bacon, toast with strawberry jam and a tall glass of pulp orange juice. Sofia is scrambled, ham steak and toast with just butter.

"No Lara and before you say it, no I won't let you go near him," Jonah says as he takes a seat in a wooden chair next to her bed.

"You've been questioning him and he just refuses to talk or…?" Lara left it open and Jonah shake his head.

"No, I'm not one for doing that, I asked questions, I got angry and threw things around the room and got into his face. He hasn't spoken once, but Mr. Santfur has, he keeps trying to make deals that I am not at all inclined to allow," Jonah answers and Lara takes a bite of bacon.

Chewing it slowly and enjoying the flavour, before getting her mind back on track, "what is Mr. Santfur saying?" she asks casually though a bitter undertone is noticeable.

Almost grunting, "Asking to be released that he'll say he failed and he'll try again. Or that he'll fake a location and will sneak away, a lot of half assed planning in a frightened mind. I even mention you and he really shrinks into his shell," Jonah sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "Look you rest up and I'll have Roger's cop friend have a look at him, okay?"

Lara opened her mouth to protest but stopped knowing it would just invite an argument. Eating a large chunk of toast with jam she eats the rest of her meal in silence. Sofia watches her in the corner of her eye.

"I know what you're thinking," Sofia comments as she finishes her meal, "I say do it."

Blinking in surprise, Lara looks at her, "talk to the man who tortured me," she says it as a comment, not a question and Sofia nods.

"I get the feeling he'll only talk to you to strike up a bargain. The question is, will you accept and be able to trust him after what he's done to you?" Sofia asks and Lara chugs her drink down and moves to slip out of bed, Sofia moves next to her and gives a hand.

Lara shakes her head and stands up, grimacing but she puts pressure onto her sore leg, "I need you to distract Jonah so I can go in there, otherwise he won't let me anywhere near the room." Headed for her bedroom door, Sofia sighs and follows suit.

"This is going to be fun…" Sofia comments and takes the lead while watching Lara limping in the corner of her eye. "You should still be resting."

Letting it slide Lara stops as she hears Jonah in the kitchen talking with Winston and Roger. Glancing at Sofia, who straightens her back and walks in and to the side to keep their attention from the doorway. "Lara is being difficult," Sofia starts and Jonah chuckles and Winston raises an eye brow. "I finally talked her into sitting still, gave her the laptop."

Giving a light laugh, "yeah, once Lara gets her mind on something, she sticks to it. On one hand it can be annoying but on the other… I can't help admiring her for always pushing," Jonah says and Lara peeks in before creeping by.

Hands moving along the wall like she's in enemy territory and is afraid of being spotted, she sees the iron framed door in the corner and moves quickly to it. Checking behind her in the grand hallway, high ceilings of red wood, she sighs, opens the door and steps in.

The man lifts his head, the corner of his lip turns up slightly, his hair is dark, short and naturally goes forward, his eyes are dark brown, he looks to have Russian in him which doesn't add up with his Australian accent earlier, unless that was just to confuse. His arms are bound to iron cuffs on a steel chair and so are his ankles, a thin chain is wrapped around his torso and abdomen, the room is a cold cellar so no windows.

"At last," he says, his voice now American, tilting his head up, his demeanor is completely calm, relaxed. He knows that her large friend and that Lara will not cause him harm, that isn't who they are. "I know you're not here for pleasantries."

"You're right," Lara takes a seat in front of him, clenching her teeth to hide the discomfort in her body and leans forward. While having been hit by him quite a few times, seeing his face, his eyes comforters her a little, no longer a faceless man behind a black mask, he can no longer hide. He's exposed and he knows it. "Why did you start to make a move on me and then tell me you don't do those things?"

Sitting back in his chair, as though in a restaurant and talking about the weather, "I knew that things weren't going to work out, I was only allowed to do so much to you as you are very valuable and Santfur doesn't have a clue," he rolls his eyes. He hated having to work with the pompous coward, he snickered behind his mask when Lara called him out on it earlier. Looking back at her he sits forward with renewed focus, "I wanted to show that I would never go to that length no matter how," he wets his bottom lip, "enticing you may be. As you've already figured, I want to make a deal."

Lara doesn't flinch; she gives a small nod and continues to watch him carefully. He is her enemy but he is unarmed and is clearly bound, as much as she wants to hit him for what he helped to put her through, he isn't willing to talk to Jonah and she doubts he'll talk to anyone else but her. "You want to make a deal? I really don't see how things can turn in your favour."

Nodding slowly, sizing her up as he does so, "this is true, but I know you're going to head after that hand no matter what as soon as you are able. I read your file before you were placed before me. If you release me, with a head wound, cuts and bruises it'll show I put up a fight before you were taken back by your people _before_ I got part of the location," she gives him a look of 'that's all you got?'. "They're going to find out anyways, they'll go to whatever lengths they need to. Your friend Jonah, Sofia, any of them they'll use against you. Break in and steal your computer, you need to look out for them all the time right? Well take a step ahead and think about it. You let me go with just a bit of information, you run into my people, maybe you get captured, maybe one of your friends does… I would then do everything in my power to get you or your friend free. But that is it, you scratch my back I scratch yours. You have a man on the inside," he sits back, hoping that his spiel, his thought process is sound enough as he's had a lot of time to go over it. Mostly ignoring Jonah and thinking about her reactions yesterday to some of what Santfur had said, he can see her thinking over everything as he said it.

Sitting back in her chair, a small groan sounding in her mouth at forgetting the bruising on her upper and lower back having touched the chair. She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, "How do I know you won't stab me in the back?" Lara asks with a serious look, but somber as she's not up for her tough-girl act right now and she knows she doesn't need it.

"You don't," he answers simply, honestly, "I know that trust is very hard to earn, and I cannot ask you to trust me. Instead I ask you to think about it, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon," he moves his fingers around to emphasise.

As she watched him she knows what he is saying is true. Standing up just as the door opens with Jonah and Sofia. "Lara, what are you doing in here?" Jonah asks, obviously not happy when he finally realized Sofia had to be stalling as she would never be away from Lara for that long just to chat.

"I'm just leaving, what's your name?" Lara asks him and the man raises his eye brows.

"Liam," he answers and Jonah glares at the man and then at Lara for being so foolish, even with the man being bound he doesn't like the idea of her being alone in a room with one of the people who hurt her for information.

When walking by the kitchen Lara pauses to look at Winston who is watering some of the plants, she takes a moment wondering if what she is about to say is the right thing. Keeping a calm look about her, "could you make him, the prisoner, a sandwich please?" he raises his eye brows at her. Obviously curious as to why she would make such a request. "I won't stoop to their level, torture and starvation," she explains and he nods. Not uttering a word of protest or asking what kind, he sets to work on her request. Pulling out a loaf of bread and going into the fridge to pull out a can of tuna.

Once up in her room Lara lies on her bed and groans, "now even more decisions to make," she comments and Sofia looks at her in curiosity.

"Even after what he and his partner put you through, your still humane to him… you continue to amaze me Lara," Sofia climbs up onto the bed to straddle her hips.

Looking up at her, Lara gives an inquisitive but intrigued expression, "now what are you thinking about?" she watches Sofia lower her upper half and give Lara a kiss. A slow and passionate kiss that Lara melts into; despite her cut lip she returns the kiss happily. Sofia pulls away just a bit, and opens her eyes to see evidence of pain still in Lara's eyes, but they're smiling up at her which has Sofia kiss her again.

Her hands raise up to hold Sofia's waist, no risk of her mended pinky getting hurt or bent again, she moves her hands under the hem of her shirt and up. Feeling her warm, soft, smooth skin and feels Sofia moan into the kiss. Fingers glide up and reach her bra, Lara doesn't know why but her pang of guilt she felt before when she was about to be tortured was from the idea of not being able to spend this kind of time with Sofia again. Not be able to touch her, to be touched in return and to feel the warm sensation in her stomach at it all.

Not wanting to waste time, Lara's finger tips press Sofia's up and behind her fingers and slip under to feel the warm, soft mounds. As she did this, Sofia slipped her tongue into Lara's mouth and moans happily, when Lara's fingers brush over her nipples Sofia's back arches instantly. Lara's mouth opens more and she feels herself getting absorbed into the kiss, her own tongue meeting Sofia's and their kiss grows deeper.

Lara's back arches and then she stops, a spike of pain coming from the action, she groans and Sofia pulls away to see the discomfort on Lara's face. "Yeah, I thought it was pushing it… I just missed those lips," she blushes and Lara blushes in return.

"I guess I just want things to be normal again, but my body needs time to catch up," Lara comments and Sofia gives her a brief kiss on the lips.

"Then we wait," Sofia says and lightly taps the tip of Lara's nose, "we wait."

* * *

Please review! What did you enjoy the most and what would you like to see more of?


	7. Preparation

Hands gripping the pole over her head tightly, Lara swings her legs forward and back, gradually getting bigger swings and bending her knees more with each one until finally she pulls herself to be upside down. Breathing heavily, her arms shaking a little, her back and core muscles are aching but she ignores them as best she can. "Come on, this time I'm getting into shape," she mutters to herself and exhales to allow her body to drop but holds on loosely, and keeps the momentum going to release and grab the other one, but her right arm gives out.

Fingers slip off and she hits the mat beneath her and grunts, Sofia chuckles a little at the other end, punching and kicking a full body punching bag. "You push yourself too hard Lara, it's been a week and you expect to be able to pull your normal stunts?"

"Yes," Lara grunts and stands up slowly. It has been a week since her ordeal, and it's been six days since Roger Montour went with Jimmy and took Mr. Santfur to the police station for proper questioning and they made sure Jimmy promised he wouldn't get a phone call.

 _Stepping out of his own room, Liam glances around the grand house from where he's standing and looks unsure but happy, the group standing before him as he came out. Sporting a black eye, broken nose and a few hits to the ribs, all courtesy of Roger as Jonah wasn't comfortable doing it._

 _His eyes land on Lara, "thank you for the sandwich, and for setting me free to report," Liam says and Lara takes a step towards him._

" _Who's your employer?" Lara asks, hands on her hips and Jonah is surprised by how bold she is being, Sofia isn't as they had a chat before coming down for his release._

" _Fernando Huites, he owns Frutana Corp, who wants King Midas's golden hand to give them unlimited power, that would spell trouble for most, but for those like me it spells money. Getting paid," Liam answers an Lara gives a disgusted look. Lifting his hands, "hey, I've got certain qualities that very few need. I'll take the gigs where I can get them."_

 _Clearing his throat, Jonah looks displeased and steps forward, "you got what you needed from Lara? You can go now?" he asks in an irritated voice._

 _Giving a curt nod, "yes, thank you," he steps over to Lara and extends his hand. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." She studies his hand carefully, because of him she's taking pain meds each morning to help her function when she gets up, but she grits her teeth and bares with it as much as she can. Jonah and Sofia give her an ear full if they see her discomfort too much._

 _Looking at his hand and knowing what pain he caused her, the screaming that Mr. Santfur recorded when she couldn't bare anymore, but would never give out the information. Here she had given a hint, maybe she shouldn't be letting him go like this but at the same time she has a gut feeling she'll be meeting him again._

 _Her eyes moving back up to his face, refusing to budge and he lets his hand fall and walks away._

Climbing up onto this wooden tower, Lara purchased a specific training room equipped with most of the environment she keeps running into. Wanting to be easy physically this time, standing at the top she looks at each pole sticking out of the wall to her right followed by a large wooden box and then another pole and finally the landing platform.

Taking a deep breath Lara takes a leap and catches the pole, her body swinging in the momentum and releasing at what she feels is the perfect moment, like all the times before. She catches the box and uses the toes of her boots to give herself a boost and reaches up to catch the top, grunting as she does so and feeling her abdomen and upper back ache, but nothing she can't handle now.

Lara climbs up to the top, takes two steps and leaps to catch the next pole and gives out a cry as she releases and lands on the platform. "Yes!" she cries out triumphantly.

Sofia chuckles with her arms crossed over her chest, "it's a start," she smirks and Lara gives her the look of 'did you have to?' Giving a light laugh, "alright, then spar with me."

Giving her a thoughtful look, she's been in fights but never really one for the hand to hand combat, "okay, but go easy on me, I have very little experience in sparring."

* * *

Flipping Sofia onto her back for the sixth time, twisting her arm behind her back Lara smiles and helps her to stand up again. "You're doing better," Sofia comments and smirks. "Tomorrow we'll work on more advanced stuff, but for today I think that should be enough."

Sighing, Lara nods in agreement, they'd gone through quite a few techniques and it took a couple of tries before Lara got the hang of it. "Alright," she looks to the doorway to see Winston standing there with one of the cordless phones.

"For you Lady Croft," Winston says and Lara walks over while taking a towel to wrap it around her neck, not having expected to sweat so much so soon, which also tells her she isn't 100% yet.

Taking the phone Lara takes it off hold, "Lara Croft… ah yes it is good to hear from you," she smiles and looks at Sofia to give her a wink which confuses her. "They're integrating well, how many have you got there right now?... excellent!" She continues to listen while Sofia grabs a bottle of water for each of them.

Looking to Winston, Sofia asks, "Who is it?" confused as a lot has been happening since she came to the mansion.

"A woman in the program of bringing your people into our world, but slowly as to not overwhelm," Winston answers and Sofia smiles at him and looks to Lara to see her talking animatedly. "Lady Croft has accomplished a lot, sadly she rarely slows down to sit back and enjoy."

Sofia thinks about what he just said and frowns, in the time she's spent with her she realizes what he said is true. Even when she was supposed to be relaxing she'd go onto her laptop to look into things, she'd make phone calls, Lara can't sit still, she looks to thrive while keeping busy. Biting her lower lip, "hmmm… I'll see if I can pull her away from it all for a bit tonight," she looks up at him and he gives her a smile.

"Please do," he lightly pats her on the shoulder before turning back to the kitchen just as Lara gets off of the phone.

Beaming, "they've got about 7 of your young teens working with some of Discovery to learn and some are working in a rural area, there are phones but very little else. Wanting to teach them bit by bit and new books have been brought to them to learn about the world, what all has been happening and to see what might interest them. They just started yesterday and in two days time or tomorrow depending, the Discovery archeologists will be going over the ruins and are setting up to start examining and a small camera crew. Only one camera man per archeologist, and Jackie would appear to be assisting as well. Some of the young adults are showing the Discovery people the places of interest and warning them of the dangers. The Discovery people are also relying on your people to watch out for them from wolves, bears."

Sofia smiles and hugs Lara, "that is great to hear! I'm so happy everything is working out, I hope the elder's you met with aren't putting up too much of a fight," she sighs and then looks at Lara at arm's length.

"Brock and Tobias have been in charge of designating people, but so far she said they've been reasonable," Lara says and looks at the time and goes over something in her head. "I want to get you out of the house, you've been here and then rescued me and then got stuck in here again… I'd like to take you to a movie."

Blinking in confusion, "what's a movie?" Sofia asks and Lara walks her to the nearest computer to pull up the theater website to double check on the show time.

"A movie is where you have a cast and crew come together to make a story, they use computer effects to jazz it up sometimes, they video tape it in different areas of the world and then put it into movie theaters for people to pay to watch," Lara explained it as simply as she could.

Still a look of confusion on her face, "people pay to see them?" Sofia asks, "Why can't people put together such big things for everyone to enjoy?"

Reading what she needed to, Lara closes the window, "there are huge companies in Hollywood that pay the cast and crew to go out and film the movie, they are paid thousands, millions of dollars to portray the people they are trying to embody to entertain the audience. Some go through a lot, some actors starve themselves for a role, others will put on weight or muscle for a role, they become famous and people or rather their fans go out to the movies to pay to see them on the big screen. It's a huge industry that like many other things is focused on money, the one I looked at recently I think you'll find intriguing."

Standing up to grab her wallet, keys, shoes and jacket Sofia follows her and runs her fingers through her hair, "are you in it?" she teases and Lara scoffs.

"I'm no actress, I do the real stuff with no cameras, I don't get paid and my body gets beaten up," Lara laughs and she holds open the front door for Sofia.

"Okay what is this movie about?" Sofia enquires as they walk out to the car.

"It's about an astronaut, they are people who train really hard to go into space shuttles to go out into space," Lara points up to the sky, "they go to other planets to learn about them. Grab samples of the rock and dirt from out there to study it. And in this movie a group of them are on Mars, but while there a storm hits them hard and they are forced to leave one of their own behind thinking he is dead. However he is alive and it is a process of what he goes through to survive on a planet where there is no vegetation, there is no oxygen, and there are no animals or water. He needs to learn how to use what he has available to him at his base camp to survive, even if you don't understand the technology that they're dealing with. To see another human being work to survive in a world that isn't your own fascinates me."

Sofia thinks it over and nods as the doors are unlocked and she gets into the passenger seat and buckles up. "Those really are difficult circumstances, does he have any provisions left behind by his team to work with?" looking at Lara and Lara gives a light laugh.

"I don't know, I only read what it was about, this is also why people go to the movies. They hear about the story, just tid-bits and if they like the sounds of it, they'll go out to see the movie to find out what all happens," Lara adds and Sofia smiles at her. Enjoying her laugh and finding it still fascinating how Lara gets excited when she's talking about something she has genuine interest in.

After 15 minutes of driving in the terrible traffic, Lara pulls into the parking lot and Sofia stares at the large flashy building, the big stars lining parts of the roof, great big pillars out the front that are jazzed up. Then her eyes take in the posters, "are each of these movies?" Sofia asks as she sees one that looks fake, strange faces, another of a couple, she shakes her head to ignore the rest.

"Yeah, now I'm going to treat you to the concession stand… I just hope the pop corn is decent," Lara answers and frowns, it's been since before Yamati that she's seen a movie. She just hopes that this is a good idea to show Sofia something different.

Stepping into the building Sofia is taken back a bit by the amount of people, the flashing lights, the lines, the busy atmosphere, "wow…" feeling more than a little out of place. Lara puts her arm around her shoulders and Sofia looks up to get a smile, taking a deep breath they continue into the lobby where Lara goes up to the concession stand.

"Two for The Martian," Lara requests, Sofia sees that the lady is putting on a smile, and scratches the back of her neck feeling uneasy.

After 7 minutes of waiting and talking they finally take their seats in the theater room, finally feeling a little more at ease, no longer surrounded by so many strange people. For once they aren't armed to the teeth; the kids make her go soft at the memory of the kids from her village. Remembering how she's send them out to hunt and with assignments, working with each of them personally to make them the best she could at marksmanship, taking turns at the watch towers, someone else did the crafts. These kids here having the little phones of their own, looking at magazines, talking about boys, video games. None of them with the skills she is used to seeing kids their age having, feeling a pang of missing home, yes there are those she is happy to get away from for more than a day but even that feels strange.

Reaching her hand into the popcorn bag she takes a bite and is surprised by some of the overwhelming flavours. The super strong taste of salt and the butter, Lara sees this and offers her some red liquorish, "I'm sorry, I was hoping it would have improved in time, which is why I got a small and grabbed us… well extra junk food," Lara smiles and Sofia takes a bite of the liquorish and smiles.

"That's better," Sofia smiles, but Lara can see that things are off with her. Studying the way she's been watching everyone and slowly watching Sofia grow uncomfortable around so many people that are nowhere like her own.

Wondering if she's starting to get home sick, her old routine, but then the lights dim and the previews start up. Rolling her eyes, "oh right… 15 minutes worth of previews for upcoming movies before our movie starts up."

* * *

Walking into her room, Lara checks over her voicemail while Sofia steps in, having been discussing the movie on the way back. Sofia enjoyed it in the end, the elements of another planet and what he did to survive, to make communication and marveled at it all.

Seeing a voice mail from Roger Lara puts it on speaker {Hi Lara, I have great news for you, I have given it some great thought and took out $250,000.00 for you for your next adventure. I would have given you a cheque but I didn't want to chance my father pulling rank and trying to shut down my bank account. I'll be by tomorrow morning with the cash in hand, oh and how was the movie? I hope Sofia liked it, good night!}

Looking up Sofia blinks, "that sounds like a lot of money," she comments and Lara nods with a grin spreading across her lips.

"That it is… tonight I'll start preparations for the supplies we'll need, start buying them and get-" Lara is cut off by Sofia's right thumb covering her lips and lightly holding her chin. Lara blushes and looks at her confused.

"Not tonight," Sofia says and she pulls down on Lara's chin, opens her own mouth, tilts her head to the side and extends her tongue into Lara's mouth while sealing her lips over hers. Lara's eyes closing and giving in once she feels Sofia's right hand on the back of her neck and left hand on her waist, holding her close.

Walking backwards Lara feels her heel hit the edge of the side of the bed and loses balance to have her back on the mattress. Sofia pulls away for a moment and with her help, scoots her up higher onto the bed to continue kissing, their tongues dancing together, exchanging saliva as Sofia moves to straddle Lara's hips.

Not wanting to wait any longer, feeling that after tonight they'll both be bogged down with preparations, getting bags packed and possibly heading out the door that evening. With this Frutana Corp hot on their heels they won't have time for pleasantries; it'll be business and survival on unknown terrain.

Knowing Lara has no jacket on now, instead a sleeveless white shirt she pulls away from her lips to kiss her chin, and trail kisses down along her jaw and opens her eyes to see Lara's eyes closed. Sofia inches her way ever so slowly to Lara's neck, she plants a gentle kiss to her warm skin.

Lara moves her head and Sofia gives her neck another kiss, moving down slowly until she reaches the crevice of her shoulder and neck, placing another kiss she then makes sure her tongue is damp and makes a small circle just above her collar bone. Lara lets out a soft moan of enjoyment, Sofia watches Lara's lips turn up into a smile.

Pulling her tongue back in, Sofia seals her lips over the crevice and lightly sucks on the tender warm skin, Lara moans a bit louder and Sofia then reaches down to slip her hand under her shirt, fingers grazing over the curve of her waist and caressing her.

Moving back up Sofia goes to Lara's right ear and lightly nibbles on it. Lara sighs and then she feels Sofia parting her legs just enough to move her right thigh into her groin and she starts to stimulate her through the pants, Sofia then whispers, "I'm going to make love to you."

Lara gasps and her nerves cause her to shiver all over, Sofia reaches her left hand down to slowly open the button to her pants, slide the zipper down and then starts to lower her pants. Sitting up Sofia looks down at Lara in her sleeveless white shirt and navy blue panties, and then removes her own pants to toss them onto the floor at the foot of the bed.

Resuming her position Sofia begins to grind her thigh against Lara's vulva, gasping and moaning at the sensations she's stirring up Lara reaches her hands up to Sofia's back. Reaching her hands under her shirt and tracing lines up and down her spine causing Sofia to give out a little moan and press her chest into Lara's.

Taking her bottom lip between her lips, Lara lightly sucks on it and then nibbles as Sofia increases the grinding, feeling Lara's thigh rubbing into her own vulva. Lara's hands moved around smoothly to the front of Sofia and slip her fingers to the fabric edge of her bra, brushing her fingers up and over the material she can feel her hard nipples poking through. Giving them a light pinch elicits a soft moan from Sofia, looking down at her with lustful eyes.

Sofia lowers herself to kiss Lara again, feeling a heat growing between her legs and dampening her panties and that Lara's are damp as well. Moving her left hand down her fingers hook the rim of the panties and she slips her fingers inside to feel the short soft hairs leading to the groin and they stop when they find their destination. Her middle finger and index finger lay on Lara's hardening clitoris, when her fingers first grazed it Lara shuddered and let out a whispered moan into the kiss.

Massaging the organ slowly, an immense pleasure swells up inside of Lara and she breaks the kiss to gasp and let out a louder moan, her chest rising and falling faster as she begins to pant. Shivering in pleasure, her skin becoming covered in goose bumps, Lara's head falls back and Sofia takes advantage of her exposed neck by kissing and nipping at her exposed skin. Small sounds escape from Lara as she does this and she squirms beneath Sofia as she continues to massage her clitoris, her vulva radiating heat and moist to the touch.

As Lara's face contorted in pleasure Sofia starts to rub harder and faster, writhing beneath Sofia, she reaches down to the bottom of Sofia's shirt and yanks it off of her before pulling her own sticky shirt off. Her body slick with sweat and radiating heat, panting and moaning louder.

Smiling at the sweat that's formed in her hairline, the flush in his neck rose to her face for a pinkish red in her cheeks. Sofia is enjoying being in control and watching Lara's reactions and feeling that her panties are now soaked she reaches her hand down to her opening and presses her fingers against it, feeling the heat coming out of it. Pressing her finger tips against her labia, lubricated in Lara's pleasure she runs her fingers in circles around her wet lips and massages her wet slit.

Lara squeaks and moans in pleasure as Sofia teases her and then Lara brings her head down to kiss her again, her moans getting swallowed by Sofia's mouth. Sofia then parts her wet lips between her legs to move her middle finger inside, Lara gasps into the kiss, her chest quivering, she waits till Sofia's tongue meets hers in the middle and she gives her a deep and passionate kiss. Their tongues entwining, caressing each other as Lara's hands reach around Sofia's back to run her fingers up and down her back. Moving them down she holds her by her waist before going back up to slip her fingers under the edge of the bra cup and gently holds each mound. Absorbing the moans that Sofia gives to her actions.

Moving her finger into Lara some more she stimulates the upper wall of her vaginal cavity. Using her thumb she works on Lara's clit, Lara's hips buck up into her hand, she pulls away from the kiss as she pants heavily. Curling her finger inside of her in a 'come here' motion, Lara felt an intense pleasure coil tightly deep inside her heated core, she can feel herself getting ready to explode.

Sofia seals her lips over Lara's and invades her mouth with her tongue, her moans and cries being muffles by the kiss. Smiling in the kiss Sofia fingers her faster, and her smile turns to a grin at Lara's bucking hips into her hand.

A surge of excitement and pleasure washed through Lara's body and Sofia can feel her walls contracting around her finger; finally she pulls her tongue out just as Lara's head falls back. Watching Lara's orgasm rock her body, her face flushed and body glistening in sweat, she lies there smiling up at Sofia when her ride slowly vanishes. Reaching up Lara holds onto her head and pulls her down for a kiss, a sweet and passionate kiss as Sofia pulls her finger out.

Lara looks into Sofia's eyes and smiles at her, "when do I get to return the favour?"

Grinning at her, "I'm all yours."

* * *

Please review! Next up adventure and I think that may be the last sex scene of the story, we'll see. Not really any time for intimacy while on an adventure. Please tell me what you enjoyed the most, what you disliked, what you'd like to see coming up, give me some ideas ^_^


	8. Adventure Time

Power bars, trail mix, butane lighter, reusable bag of water, toilet paper, Swiss army knife, walkie-talkie, toothpaste and toothbrush, flashlight, handgun, extra bullets and her fold up bow with a leather quiver. Back-pack set down onto the bench, Lara smiles fondly, excited for the new adventure and looks to Jonah who takes his seat.

"Ready for this?" Jonah asks as the pilot goes into his own seat to start up the engines.

Nodding with confidence, "yes," Lara answers as Sofia comes onto the plane with her backpack, each filled with their own essentials. Smiling at Sofia, she blushes a bit at the fond memories from last night.

"Is everyone accounted for?" the captain asks and Lara takes Sofia's hand briefly before moving up to the co-pilot seat.

"Yes, thank you for agreeing to do this discreetly," Lara answers while Sofia takes a seat behind Lara and Jonah takes the one behind the pilot.

Putting his head set on, flipping a switch for the door to close at the side of the small private plane. Smaller than the plane they flew home in. "Mr. Montour has been very good to me, this is the least I could do for him or a good friend of his," he smiles at her as the plane starts to give off a small vibration that it is up and running.

Lara puts her own head set on and switches it on, "only five hours left," she smiles, feeling the adrenaline kicking in. They've already driven for three hours; the pilot has been working for the Montour's since Roger was a kid. Concerned about someone leaking the information about their current adventure, Roger assured them that Joe Shepard would meet them at a distant air port and take them the rest of the way. But that they'd have to drive a great distance.

Buckling up the five point harness, he nods and gives her a thumb up. Within minutes their plane takes off and Sofia watches it all from her window, Jonah put's his head phones on with an orchestra playing. Drumming his fingers happily on his stomach.

Once in the air, Lara sits back, and just for kicks pulls out Battleship and hands one back to Sofia to looks at it confused. Looking over her shoulder at her, Lara points to her head set and then to the side.

Looking to the side, Sofia spots the head set and puts it on comfortably. "What's this?"

"It's called Battleship, I figured we could play a few rounds or so to fill the time," Lara says and the pilot laughs.

"Oh my goodness, Battleship! Now that's an old classic," Joe comments and Lara chuckles.

"Yes, I couldn't agree more," Lara agrees and opens up hers. "You take the ships and place them on the board, up, down, to the side, etcetera. You say call out D5 and I say either hit or miss if I have a ship in that location. We go until someone has all of their ships taken out, taking turns."

Examining her Tanker, Sofia looks at the little pegs and pushes them into place, "okay, I'll give it a shot," she places each ship into the board.

* * *

Four hours into the flight Lara reaches behind her to tickle Sofia's left knee, stirring her from her sleep she blinks and puts her head set back on.

"Take a look at the view," Lara says into the headset, leaning forward in her own seat and looking down in excitement at the forest below, a huge cliff edge wrapping around a mountain to their left. A river on the right and it looks to be a waterfall in the distance.

"Reminds me of home," Sofia says, happy to see nature at its finest.

Glancing over Lara smiles from cheek to cheek to see Jonah also taking in the sights, "almost –" the plane jerks and then all of the lights and controls shut off. "Oh no… you've got to be kidding me."

Joe starts hitting buttons and trying to get switches to respond, "Something just took out the plane! I can't get it back on, we need to get out of here now," he unbuckles his harness system and so does Lara in a hurry.

Taking their head sets off Sofia is confused and alarmed as everyone else is undoing their harnesses in a hurry. "What do you mean? What's going on?" she asks as Lara moves around to her and takes out her knife, cutting the straps before hurrying to the back to grab her gear and her parachute. Only minutes to jump out before their chances of surviving the landing diminish.

"Someone on the ground must have used one hell of an EMP to knock out the plane, even if it I get it back up and going there's no way I can land it here. We need to jump!" Joe explains and grabs his own parachute.

Everything moving so fast as the plane nose dives for the forest below. Jonah holds his backpack to his chest and puts his parachute on while Joe opens the side door they came in through. Wind gusting through and making straps and papers fly about inside of the plane; he turns to the others, gripping the handle on the side, "GO! GO! GO!" he yells.

Jonah looks at Lara and she takes his hand briefly, exchanging a knowing look of 'I'll see you down there' before he turns to the door and jumps out.

"GO! We'll be right behind you!" Lara yells and Joe nods before turning to jump out. Looking at Sofia, she holds her hand, "I'll find you!"

Sofia gives a firm nod, grips the handle and then jumps out just as the plane jerks. Stumbling back and crashing into the wall at the other side as the plane rattles, eyes wide, Lara pushes off, clutching her bag to her chest and charges out, jumping into the cold air and free falling.

Behind her she can see three parachutes in the distance, frantic; Lara feels around quickly for her cord and yanks it as fast as she can. The strength of the wind hoisting her up into the air, looking behind her again to see Sofia's chute go down she smiles until she hears gunfire, "oh shit!" her parachute jerking and then careening her to the left towards the mountain cliff. Heart racing and palms sweaty, trying to keep her grip on her backpack she reaches for the right strap to try and steer away. Her middle finger just catching it as more bullets go into her parachute making her drop in height even more. "This can't be happening!"

Flailing around, no longer having any control over her parachute, dropping her bag, "No!" her eyes wide in panic, looking up in time to see the rock cliff just before she slams into it.

* * *

Head pounding, feeling her heart beat in her head slow but steady, her limbs fizzing and numb, opening her eyes slowly makes her forehead sting instantly. "Ack!" she cringes and reaches up to touch her head, feeling a sticky substance there and opens her eyes again to have her stomach do a flip. Several feet above the ground and she can faintly make out some voices down below. Frutana Corp.

Looking around at her surroundings more closely, Lara sees she is between a few thick branches, her parachute is mangled beyond repair and looks to be stuck at the top of her tree and another. Pursing her lips in thought she is being partially held up by the buckle system, feeling the branch she is on is sturdy and the base is solid from what she can see. Pushing herself up on the v of the branches beneath her and pulling her legs up slowly, manoeuvring them smoothly as to not make too much noise for her guests to know she's near.

She manages to pull her knees up and under herself and kneels on the branches, using her core muscles to keep her balance; Lara unbuckles the harness with ease and takes a look around at the other branches. Eyes widening upon seeing her backpack hanging from a branch several branches below on the opposite side of the tree. Sadly it looks to be upside down with the top open.

Placing her hands onto the branches she is kneeling on she looks below at the other branches, examining them to see her path to get to the backpack. "Okay Lara, you can do this," she whispers to herself and moves her right leg down and then slips her left leg down and around, her arms then hands holding onto the branch for her toes to finally touch the branch under her.

A couple of figures come into view at the base of the tree, but they don't look up and she moves herself towards the base of the tree now, just enough so she can use the branches like a ladder, stepping down to a base and moving her hands down between the gaps to other branches. Angling her body to the left to slip around a large cluster that is too tight to fit down, then she glances to her left, the bag is just a little more down and away from her.

"Huites is driving me nuts," a man below her says as he lights a cigarette. Lara partially hugs the tree and then gasps when a broken branch she didn't see nicks the inside of her right arm. Of course she isn't wearing sleeves this time, _why didn't you wear your leather jacket? Oh that's right it would be too hot!_ Lara mentally scolds herself.

Going down to the next branch carefully, being more watchful or any more surprises the tree has to offer, looking to her left she sees she is finally on the correct level.

"Don`t let the others hear you say that, you're a rookie, the new guy and you don`t understand his method," an older man with a gruff like voice says, taking the cigarette and snapping it in half. "Enjoy the fresh air that nature has to offer dumb ass."

Lara smirks at the comment and looks at a few sturdy branches she can move across so long as she stays crouched, otherwise twigs and shorter branches will surely hit her in the head. Being careful with her steps, she holds her arms out to help keep her balance as she steps on each branch and finally reaches the backpack. Crouching lower she ignores the comments that go between the two guys as she carefully pulls the bag up and takes a look inside. Her Swiss army knife is there, walkie-talkie, handgun but just the clip that is in it, water, two power bars but everything else is gone. "Shit," she says under her breath. She puts the knife into her pocket for easy access and the walkie-talkie on her hip.

Looking back down at the men below her she pulls her back on and moves back to the base of the tree, only a little bit more and she'll be directly over their heads. Again using the tree like a ladder, only now the branches are getting sparser, making sure to extend her arms and legs and finally resting on a branch above the two.

She scrunches up her nose as she pulls out her Swiss army knife; drawing out the main blade Lara places her left hand onto the branch to steady herself.

"What time is it anyway?" the younger asks as he starts to fidget, "I hate all of this waiting around for some chick to come along."

The older man shoves his index finger into the younger mans chest and makes him back into the trunk of the tree. "If you'd done your research or anything useful before agreeing to this mission, you'd know how important she is. How much smarter she is than you and therefore that makes you expendable, Huites will throw you into the fire to save her arse because she is the key to all of this! Now it is time to stop puffing out your chest, tuck your big boy shirt into your pants and show me the reason why you were actually hired for this mission!" the older man turns and steps away.

The younger man's chest rises and falls quickly, he's angry and she watches his shoulders go up, he steps away from the trunk to start on the older man. Lara takes her opportunity; she jumps down with the blade facing down and shoves it into the side of his neck as she lands. Clamping her hand over his mouth so he can't cry out, he jerks and tries to grab but his hands just flail around instead before his eyes roll up and his legs give out.

Lara's eyes never having left the back of the older man, she pulls the knife out and sets the younger man's body down. "Certainly took your time," the older man says and Lara blinks, she runs at him just as he turns around to pull his rifle out.

Grunting Lara kicks the rifle away quickly, and then stabs him in the right bicep. He staggers back as she pulls the knife out and then stands in the proper stance. He grins at her, bald, broad shoulders, navy blue military gear on, black gloves, and a scar on his right cheek. "Do you know what I am Croft?" he sneers.

Judging by the looks of Liam and his torture partner, then looking at this man, "you're a mercenary," Lara says and he nods.

"That's correct, Mr. Huites hires a lot of us for jobs like this. And the golden hand of Midas isn't his first trophy," the man comments and Lara narrows her eyes on him in curiosity. She's didn't know about him till Liam told her his name. "He's a private man, that's why you're unfamiliar with him. Now I am to bring you in alive, but I can see we're going to have to do this the fun way," he pulls a dagger out from a sheath on his right shoulder blade. "Let's dance!"

He lunges for her, but Lara quickly evades, as she does so he swipes for her leg and just barely misses her calf. Turning to face his back briefly, Lara jumps and slams the knife into his upper back, he cries out and swings his body back and forth, making her legs swing about before she falls off. Falling onto her back she scrambles to a sitting position as he turns to face her. He reaches behind him trying to grab at the knife, "bloody hell, I was going to play with you…" he snarls and then he starts after her.

Moving backwards on her heels and palms she goes quickly until her hand lands on rough material. Looking down at the younger man she'd killed, she quickly un-slings his rifle from his shoulder and aims it up just in time as the older man is towering over her.

Pulling the trigger three times, the man falls onto his back with three bullets in his chest. Acting quickly, no doubt someone else from Frutana Corp must have heard those shots. She searches the younger man's body first, finding his lighter and putting it into her pocket, taking his magazines and handgun clips into her backpack and finally his flashlight. Going to the older man she takes her knife out of his back and then takes his ammo for his rifle and handgun as well.

Standing up Lara takes one more look around the area and then freezes; around the base of the tree just sticking out from the corner is her fold up bow with her arrows. She runs over to them and grins, "Good to have you back at my side," she pulls it onto her back along with her quiver and listens.

No footsteps, no shouting, no gunfire and glancing at the ground around her, no grenades dropping at her feet. Taking her walkie-talkie off her hip, Lara presses the button on the side and holds it close to her lips.

"This is Lara Croft, is anyone out there?" she waits a moment, "I repeat this is Lara Croft, can anyone hear me?" knowing fully that Frutana Corp is most likely listening in. However hearing her voice over the radio will come as no surprise.

Lowering the walkie-talkie, "Lara! Your okay!" comes Sofia's voice and Lara smiles as she pulls it back up.

"It's good to hear your voice girl, Joe and I are huddled up," Jonah says and Lara clutches the walkie-talkie close to her chest.

Pressing the button, "Happy to hear that your all doing well, I was out for a bit there," she purses her lips, wondering what all should be discussed on the open frequency.

"You had me worried, I saw you hit the rocks and fall, between then and now an hour has passed," Sofia says and Lara closes her eyes while looking up at the mountain rock, remembering sailing right into it.

"Great…" Lara mutters and looks ahead, wanting to get closer to the waterfall. She presses the button, "I'm going to keep moving, let's keep radio chatter to a minimum," she releases the button.

"Lara I made a call out at one of their huts," Jonah says and pauses.

"You made a call? Well we can't have any more interference," an Italian accent comes on the line, a deep voice that has a hint of irritation. "Welcome to my domain Croft, everyone else… heh-heh-heh things are going to get interesting," a chill running down Lara's spine. She is about to respond when she finds the signal is jammed.

"Blast!" Lara looks to her destination. "I better start for the waterfall," and she continues through the forest.

* * *

Please review! What are you enjoying about it? What would you like to see more of? Surprises are going to come up.


	9. The Call

The wind rushing past and watching the tree tops slowly coming at her, Sofia looks down and remembers what she was told about the parachutes. Grabbing the larger cord she pulls on it and as the cream coloured material unfolds itself in the air she feels her body get jerked up, she holds her backpack to her chest with her left hand and reaches up for one of the straps to steer herself to the right a bit to avoid the mountain wall ahead of her.

Gunshots in the distance cause her to jerk her head to the far right, eyes widening, heart rate picking up quickly in fear as she watches Lara's parachute start to plummet faster. Her body flailing around, but the wind causes her own parachute to carry off to the left, "No! Lara!" she screams and let's go of the strap to clutch the backpack to her chest with her right hand. Taking the left strap she pulls on it and is turned away from the mountain side again while more gunshots ring out and looks over her shoulder. Straining her neck to get a view, and watches Lara drop her bag, and then slam into the rock.

Her body whips around without control, the parachute lets her drop without a brace and she's gone, somewhere below the tree tops. "No… Lara," she bites her bottom lip and releases the strap to then clip the backpack to be attached to her parachute harness. Reaching up she takes each strap and directs herself, left and right aiming to a clearing, pulling left and right, and also being watchful of any other gunman.

Just as she sees what looks to be a river and aims for it she hears a loud crashing noise. Looking over she watches the plane slide to a halt further down the river, well past the waterfall. "Hang in there Lara," she says to herself and focuses again on her landing, within a few more minutes she goes just past the river and tries to steer away from the forest just past it. Just managing to steer herself away from the trees and finally her legs dangle over the dirt ground.

Tongue sticking out in concentration under her top teeth as she finally touches land, and feels the parachute go over her head. Acting quickly she unbuckles the harness and gathers up the parachute as fast as she can, stuffing it back into the bag, her eyes darting right and left for any signs of the Frutana Corp. So far no one as she manages to shove the last of it into the bag and goes back to the tree line to hide the parachute bag behind a tree.

Running back to her backpack she pulls out her essentials, putting her knife into her pocket, handgun into her leather holster attached to her right hip, walkie-talkie on her belt, and her own fold up bow now attached to her back with the leather quiver. Rummaging through her bag she puts a couple of power bars into the pocket, matches and her flashlight. Having no need currently for the rest of the supplies and brings the backpack to rest with the parachute.

Going back to the river she then hears static start up on her walkie-talkie, "Sofia, Lara, are you there?" she smiles at the voice of Jonah and pulls it off her hip.

Pressing the button, "what took you so long?" she looks in the direction Lara fell in and feels a pang of regret.

"Good to hear you're in one piece Sofia, my walkie-talkie got smashed in the landing. Luckily Joe had one on him, ran into him a couple of minutes ago. Have you seen Lara?" Jonah asks and she can feel he's worried. Especially since she hasn't piped into the conversation.

Taking a moment she looks down the river and just faintly makes out some figures coming down, "I watched her smack into the mountain wall and fall into the trees. She's probably knocked out… I can see some people in the distance coming in my direction."

"Sofia, remember you're not in your own village, the woods are your home but these are different, and these people aren't Trinity. Please, be careful," Jonah heeds her as much warning as he can.

Hurrying into the water, she goes into it to her shoulders, "don't worry about me Jonah. I know this isn't my home, but this is still an environment I know." She turns the radio off and submerges herself, the water is cool but the water back home is quite cooler making this refreshing. A steady heart rate just like when she's out hunting, calm and collected as she moves to the middle of the river, it isn't a fast current but there are plenty of large rocks at the bottom to help her move.

Four men have come down, two on each side and the two on her right look to have gone through the river to search the other side already. She easily goes about and watches them spread out, their backs to her so she comes back to the surface without making a sound.

"I swear it was around here!" one of the men shouts, they're all in different military gear.

"Keep looking!" another one behind her shouts, she turns around slowly to see he is slowly turning in her direction but his eyes are up searching the tree tops. Assault rifle sitting loosely across his front, Sofia submerges herself and comes up at his feet, deciding to take a chance she pulls her bow out and moves out of the water quickly, wrapping the bow around his neck and yanking him into the water. She places her knees into his back and pulls hard as his arms thrash about, within seconds he stops moving and goes lip in her grasp. Releasing his body she looks up at the surface to see no one else is there yet and resurfaces, straining her ears for any footsteps, coughing, talking to signify a person before her eyes see them.

Looking around she sees the other man who was with the one she just killed is still at the tree line, turning around she sees that the other two are starting to come toward the river. Taking out two arrows she stays low and pulls on the draw string tightly, aiming an arrow for each of the heads approaching she lets out a breath as she lets the arrows fly. Both men are nailed in the forehead and crumple to the ground instantly, she smiles with relief and certainty. Turning around quickly she pulls out another arrow as the last one is just emerging from the trees and jumps at the sight of the two guys she just killed.

He draws his gun and looks around frantically, the string pulled taught, he looks startled when his eyes find her, Sofia's aim is true as she lets the arrow fly into his throat. Letting his gun go, he grabs at the arrow in his throat while blood squirts out and he falls to his knees before falling to his face.

Meanwhile Jonah and Joe have found a nylon tent and are sitting in the bushes, waiting and watching as a few men move about the tent and go in and out. "What are they doing all the way out here?" Jonah whispers, though he doesn't expect an answer, just wanting to voice his curiosity.

"Maybe waiting for our plane to come, we're going to have to hope that they have a way out of here still and weren't just dropped off... we need to contact Mr. Montour," Joe says in a hush tone.

"Hmmm, wait here," Jonah says and Joe grabs for his shoulder before he can get up.

"What are you thinking? Yes you've got a gun but you shouldn't go in there shooting up the bad guys, others could hear you and then we'll be knee deep in shit!" Joe hisses and Jonah sighs.

Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, "I will not shoot, okay? If I run into one of them then I'll knock them out, but I don't want to keep waiting and wondering. We need to take action, get some control back on our side," he looks back at the nylon tent to see one of the men walk outside and go around, he goes to the tiny trickle of a creek and unzips his pants. "It's now or never," he looks at Joe and pulls away, taking out his gun he creeps over while crouched.

Making sure to watch where he's stepping, no need to step on a branch or a bunch of leaves to give away his position, feeling sweat gather on his brow as he draws closer, a radio going off in the tent. He can just barely hear someone muttering a curse; now just a foot away, the man before him reaches down to pull up his zipper.

Jonah stands up tall and swings the butt of the gun to the back of the guy's head, his head wavers before he topples into the creek below.

"Well, this is a surprise," comes a voice from behind him, Jonah freezes and turns around slowly to see a man about his size, bald headed, thick beard and a cigar sticking out of his mouth grinning at him with a shotgun in his hands. His eye brows bounce up and down, "didn't –" his sentence is cut off by a large thick tree branch smacking him in the back of the head. He falls onto his face with Joe standing behind him, Jonah gives Joe a thumbs up but Joe motions to the nylon tent with his head.

Very carefully they both walk into the tent to see a guy at a radio, a high tech radio with a phone, some ammo cases, two sleeping cots and a lantern hanging from the middle. "Do either of you bozos remember the frequency for the boss?"

A young man, with short curly hair combed back, sucker sticking out of his mouth, he turns in his chair to be surprised to see Jonah and Joe, "oh shit…" he holds his hands up in surrender.

"I'll go and tie up the other two, try and get information out of him," Joe says and grabs up rope and a knife before stepping out of the tent.

Jonah takes the fold up chair next to him and holds his gun on him, he motions with it for the young man to hand over his gun and he does so smoothly. "What do you know about this place?" Jonah asks and the young guy shrugs.

"Honestly very little, I'm a lower level guy, I use technology, and it's why I was hired. But our boss kept changing the frequency number to reach him so I'm feeling stuck," the young man explains and takes out his sucker and waves it around to emphasize.

Tilting his head to the side, "why do you need to contact him anyway? Routine check up?"

The guy shakes his head, "we're low on supplies, he wants us to be prepared to be here for several days and I can't get a hold of the next base camp. We're all scattered out here," he answers and Jonah thinks for a moment.

"Can you make a call out… I mean hundreds of miles out?" Jonah asks and the man nods, "good, but I need my partner in here do to it."

Within 10 more minutes Joe comes back in carrying the tactical vests and with everything he found in the boots, gloves and sleeves to be sure the guys can't get away. "They're tied together to the same tree, but all essentials, pins, knife and what not have been taken off their person. Both are still out cold," he looks at the young man, "what have you found out?"

Jonah stands up to allow him to take his seat, "you can call Roger, let him know the situation and this guy will set it up."

Joe looks at the man and the young guy nods quickly while working on the machine to change frequencies and settings, "you'll want to keep it short, as I told your friend we're low on supplies and I don't have any extra battery power to keep this thing going for much longer." Waiting patiently for a few moments the young man finally nods, "okay, dial the number."

Looking at the number pad, Joe dials Roger's cell phone number and picks up the phone and is happy to hear it ringing.

"Hello?" Roger says after two rings and Joe smiles, feeling relief.

"Mr. Montour, it is Joe, we've got a situation here," Joe starts and when Roger doesn't interrupt he takes that as a go ahead. "An EMP was used on the plane, we had to jump out, I am with Jonah, Sofia is on her own and we don't know the status of Lara. It sounds like she is hurt, the plane crashed and Frutana Corp are here in full force with what look to be mercenaries. We were just over four hours into the flight; they knew we were coming."

Taking a moment to process this, "I'll fly a helicopter over, but I'll land it before the four hour mark."

Joe sighs and shakes his head, "Mr. Montour that isn't necessary-"

"Joe you have no way of getting back, you don't know what will happen with their own transportation when you're down there. What if it's blown up to keep them from getting to King Midas's golden hand? You don't know what lengths Lara will go to in order to protect something from going into the wrong hands, I'll come down there straight away," before Joe could argue Roger hung up his phone.

Groaning, Joe rubs the bridge of his nose and hangs up, "Mr. Montour is coming here, but he's landing a distance away to trek here on foot. With this being the case I cannot leave this base camp. I want to be here when he arrives."

Folding his arms across his chest, Jonah stares out the tent door at the woods outside. "Then we both stay here… I want to get out to Lara but at the same time you've got three guys to contend with and I won't leave you on your own. I also know that Sofia is out there and she is going to worry over her just as much as me. Only she's more capable than me, she'll find her for the both of us," he looks at Joe and then at the young man whose now twirling the sucker in his mouth.

His eyes go wide in alarm, "whoa man please do not put me out there with those two, they hate me! They're the merc's, not me," he feels around his gear and takes his vest off, and then removes his hidden knife from inside of his boot. "I know I've got gear, but it's all precautionary and I'd much rather stay here in the tent," he tosses his stuff to the side, "bind my wrists and ankles together, I don't care, just don't put me out there with them… and I heard it might rain." He gives a weak and pathetic smile.

Rolling his eyes, "fine, what's your name?" he asks in irritation and the young man beams at him like he was let into his electronic store to see his prize on sale.

"Sebastian, Sebastian Shenn," the young man answers, Joe then starts to bind his wrists together.

"Now… it's the waiting game."

* * *

Please review! I know there wasn't any Lara in this, but I felt the need to show what the others are up to and what they're dealing with. What would you like to see next? What are you enjoying the most right now?


	10. Challenges

Fingers gliding smoothly along the cold red steel handle, kneeling beside a crate outside of a large tent, many tents have been pitched up in this area just a little ways away from the waterfall. Her heartbeat going steady as she stares at the back of the man before her, keeping watch, she's been watching each man's routine in this camp for the past half hour or more. Having lost track, she lifts the ice pick and holds it close, her now dirty left knee lifting off the ground as she advances on him.

Lifting the ice pick to be level she stands up, both hands gripping the handle she swings it to nail him in the side of the head, his body topples onto the ground to her right. Staying crouched she hooks her hands under his arms and pulls him away to the bushes to keep him out of sight, taking his ammo into her pockets and looks up at the snap of a twig.

A figure moving into the darkness that is lifting his assault rifle, Lara moves in on him quickly as just as the light on the barrel comes on he sees her just before getting the ice pick to the side of his head. He staggers to the side, clutching at his head and letting go of his gun for her to use the momentum and swing it upward and get him upside the jaw. Collapsing onto his back she sighs, "This never gets any easier," she mumbles to herself as she takes more ammo and finds she cannot take anymore.

Moving over to where the man had been standing she presses her back to the corner of the tent and peers around the corner, there is a lot of men moving about, her eyes skim over the heads of over 20 mercenaries'. Looking at her walkie-talkie Lara closes her eyes, "I have to get the radios back up and working, I need to reach out to the others," she looks around the corner again and sees a band of men going around the large body of water, too small to be a lake.

Torches are being lit going around it and behind the waterfall, "there must be a hidden entrance, perhaps the hand of Midas is in there… I need to stop them… but there are too many men here. I need to get around them," she glances around and looks to the tents to her left. There are quite a few and the sun is setting, with the woods backing the tents it will give enough cover, looking back into the tent nearest to her she sees groups of men chatting here and there, taking a drink of coffee, boxes, crates, and computers.

Turning around Lara moves around the storage supplies outside of the long tent and finds a spot seven feet down that has no box and peeks through the window, more men to the left than the right. She moves down some more, another six feet and no window, but she takes the bottom lip of the tent and peers under it. There is a set of boots at a table, but they're shifting a bit.

"What do you mean you can't find the coffee grinds?" he asks someone, she cannot hear the other voice very well, closer to the middle of the large tent. His feet move to have his back facing her, "they're over there! Right there! What are you blind?" he walks away and Lara takes her chance, leaving her backpack on the ground she goes onto her belly and slips under smoothly.

Her eyes darting around quickly, listening for any footsteps, shuffling, but what she does hear is a computer above her head. Lots of crates and bed cots lined up in a couple of rows with computer equipment in the corners. She crouches beneath the desk and peers, the man she'd been watching earlier opening up a crate and making gestures to the man to make him look like an idiot. Looking to her right there is a man lying in a cot with headphones in his ears and eyes are closed, taking a deep breath she moves out from under the desk to look at the computer on the table.

Her eyes scanning quickly, she finds some documents, snatching them up and tucking them into a pocket she unplugs the power supply from the computer. It might not help with the radios but whatever they're using it for won't help them currently, glancing around again the one man is still sleeping. Heart is racing within her chest, palms getting sweaty at the idea of getting caught, and the amount of guns that would be aimed at her then she shudders at the thought. Crouching she moves along the crates towards the man who is sleeping and catches sight of what looks to be a satellite dish just a few feet away from him on a crate.

Pursing her lips as she moves to it she sees a blinking light on it, examining it she sees a small device is plugged into it on the side and a green light next to it. "What are you broadcasting?" she whispers to herself and unplugs the device, not caring that she has no computer to plug it into, and then searches around the base to find the power cord for it. Taking out her knife she watches the man sleeping nearby shift and grunt, footsteps moving around behind her, she looks over her shoulder to see the same man from earlier return to the computer and grumbles to himself.

Attention back to the cord she uses the knife to cut it, "who the heck messed with the computer?" he shouts and looks around to suddenly spot her. She turned at the sound of his voice and feels her heart skip a beat. "She's here!"

Lara looks around and spots the man whose still sleeping, she stands up and jumps up and over his cot and gets to the other side where there is nothing blocking the tent. "Stop her! Someone grab her now!" more voices are shouting, but no gunshots _they need me alive_.

She dives onto her stomach and slips under the tarp, more shouting can be heard outside, flashlights turning on, Lara turns and runs for the back of the tent and looks up at the trees. There are branches high up that she can climb onto, taking a few quick steps she jumps and once making contact with the tree she pushes up to grab for a small branch. Using her arm strength she hoists herself up as running footsteps from below can be heard and looking up she jumps to grab the thicker one she'd first spotted and squats on it.

Observing below, three men from the right and two from her left come along the tent edge beneath her. "Where is she?" someone demands and she feels her heart rate start to slow down.

"She could be deeper in the woods! Go and look! She can't have gotten far; you and you go that way! We'll go around this way," one of them instructs and three go off down the right, along the line up of other tents and the other two fan out behind the larger one she came out of and venture into the woods. Their flashlights scanning around as it is dusk.

Looking at her walkie-talkie, Lara turns it on and turns the volume to the lowest setting, "Can anyone hear me?" her voice low, even though the men are walking away from her, she doesn't want to chance their straining ears any further.

"Lara, it's good to hear your voice," Sofia says in an equally hushed voice, "I take it you took out the interference?"

Lara smiles to herself and looks around the ground to see how the men are doing; no one is looking up into the trees yet. "Cut the wire, at least I think I did. Right now I'm a little stuck, got the whole camp by the waterfall looking for me," she smiles _feels like old times already_.

"I figured you were the reason they started to go nuts," Sofia says, "I've got company, talk later."

Glancing around the ground again she then looks directly ahead and sees that a tree close by has a branch about the same height of what she's at and sets her walkie-talkie onto her hip. Hands open and flexing her fingers, no flashlights moving around below her, she takes a deep breath and propels herself to catch the branch with both hands. Using her upper body strength she pulls herself up onto the branch and sees she can go a little higher, glancing around she spots another tree branch not to far that she can also jump onto.

Wetting her lips she takes a breath again and jumps up to grab the branch above her before propelling herself once again to catch the next branch. Looking around at the flashlights she sees a group have headed to area to the far right, she purses her lips, "be careful Sofia… this isn't Trinity… we don't know what they're capable of," she whispers to herself and spots her backpack next to the tent where she'd left it.

Biting her bottom lip, she watches the directions the flashlights are going in, sees that none are coming in her direction now. Letting out a breath she jumps down and crouches immediately, hurrying to her backpack and taking her water bottle out, knowing that nothing else will be necessary, she attaches it to her hip. Glancing down between the large tent and the one next to it, no flashlights, and looks behind her, nothing.

Turning herself to the back she hurries off to the next across from her and keeps her back to it, right hand ready to grab for her ice pick she glances around the corner to view the back of the tent. There is a flashlight skimming the ground in front of her, gripping the handle she prepares herself, hearing the footsteps approaching, and her heart rate picking up in anticipation.

The man comes into view and she swings it up to nail him in the forehead, knocking him out instantly, he collapses onto the ground. Glancing behind the tent she sees no other flashlights on the move and hurries along, wasting no time to move behind the tents, seeing the flashlights mostly out front of the tents but not wanting to take any chances she hastens her pace.

Finally coming to the end of the tents, Lara keeps her back to the nylon and careens her head around the corner; everyone is closer to the middle. Looking out at the water and the rock wall to her left, "swimming across the water will get me to the entrance behind the waterfall faster," she pulls out her water and takes a couple of sips before putting it back and staying crouched she reaches the water's edge.

Steaming water kisses her bare arm and she looks at the water, confused as to why it would be steaming and reaches her left hand out over the surface. Her hand moist in seconds as though she put it over a pot of boiling water on the stove, "could there actually be…" her eyes travel along the water surface as her night vision kicks in more and pulls out her flashlight. Glancing to her left Lara makes sure no one is coming her way, she turns it on and her eyes widen at the steam rising off. "A volcano… this is not good."

Turning her flashlight off Lara makes sure no one saw it and then hurries off to the giant rock wall; meanwhile Sofia is at the other end of the camp and has her bow around the front of a mercenaries' throat. He's thrashing his arms about and finally he slumps into her arms. She drops his body onto the ground as she can hear more footsteps, two men rushing to her area, looking up Sofia takes a risk by climbing onto a couple of crates and then onto the roof of the nearest tent.

Lying out flat onto her stomach she peeks over the edge as two men check her fresh kill, "he's dead… but he's still warm. She's close!" the one man says and they both skim their flashlights over the woods behind and the jeeps that are parked just behind her current tent. She had cut the lines to the fuel tanks and has made an explosive arrow, but wants to set up a trap to nail as many of these men as possible.

Pulling out her bow she then draws out two arrows, moving to a kneeling position and careful to keep her balance on the nylon she watches the two men move to the jeeps and aims one at each of their heads. Hand steady, eyes darting between the two targets and pulling the string taught, she lets out a breath slowly and lets both arrows fly. Each man topples over instantly, looking between the two tents where they came from she sees no one else is coming currently; glancing along the tent next to her there is no flashlights going off.

Sofia jumps down and hurries to the man she'd strangled, taking his walkie-talkie and then going back to the jeeps she takes off the gas can lids and starts dumping it on the vehicles, on the ground, all around the perimeter. "I'm going to take down as many of you as I can," she says to herself and props up a couple gas cans to being between two of the jeeps at the far back.

Rushing back to the tent she'd been on top of she climbs back up and presses the button, using her best manly voice she can, "She's at the jeeps!" and then changing her voice back to normal. "Just try and get me!" and tosses it back to the jeeps, a swarm of men rush to the jeeps.

Taking out her lighter she gets the explosive arrow primed, her eyes counting the men rushing to the jeeps and finding the dead bodies. Lighting the end she quickly draws the arrow, and makes sure no one is able to see her from below between the tents and counts nine men. "It's a trap!" one of them shouts just as she lets the arrow fly into the gas cans, a large bang resounds, flames gush out and cover the whole area, men start screaming as they're bodies are covered in fire. The flames dance in her eyes for a few seconds as she watches her work, if someone was watching from the right angle behind her, they'd see a perfect outline of her body due to the brilliant light of the fire. Lowering herself to the surface of the nylon tent as more men rush in and she smiles, in a way feeling back at home to be setting up traps for Trinity and other people who've come to take the Divine Source.

The number of men she's had to kill before this, the number of her people who have sacrificed themselves for it and now coming to another artifact where greed again is hunting for blood. Being in the woods again, surrounded by nature, the rocks, the animals, but sadly no natives to protect the artifact. "Maybe it isn't here… maybe Lara is wrong about there it is and everyone came here for nothing… all of this bloodshed for nothing," she takes out her water bottle and has a sip before reattaching it to her hip.

Turning around she moves along the top of the nylon knowing no one, or at least very few will be in the tent and glances around the front, there are still men but they're mostly at the fire trying to put it out or going in and out from behind the waterfall. _You're going to be in there, I just know it_ she thinks and takes out her binoculars, she can see men walking in and out from behind the falls. One is pointing towards the fire she made and is also gesturing behind him.

Continuing to skim around she sees movement faintly on the rock wall beyond, squinting as she rolls the focus to try and see clearer. A slender figure jumps down and scurries behind the man barking out orders and goes into the darkness, "that's my Lara," she whispers and puts the binoculars away.

Looking below at the ground again, Sofia sees there is no guy near her that is running about so she jumps down and hurries to the nearest tent ahead of her. Wanting to get to the waterfall, she crouches between some crates and watches two men run past with buckets of water, looking down the pathway between the tents she shakes her head. Too open and too likely to run into multiple mercenaries'.

Turning around she moves around the back of the tent while watching her back constantly for the rush of bodies, and gets to the other side where there's forest with another rock wall and the tent for cover. The tent having been put up very tightly to the woods, she slips in and strains her eyes to see in the dark, no light source to help guide her she pulls out her flashlight and feels around for the button to switch it on.

Feeling the rubber button she presses it, and smiles as the light floods out and points it ahead, "smart, but not smart enough," comes a smooth voice, going for her knife and turning to her right just in time for an assault rifle butt to hit her temple. Knocking her out instantly.

Meanwhile inside of the cave behind the waterfall it is massive, a line of torches going deep inside, machines humming away as men work to get new passageways to go deeper. Lara is moving along the crates and boxes on the far left wall, trying to keep out of sight and catches sight of a small hole in the wall to her left, making sure no one is looking her way or is about to take a crate from her right she moves along quickly. Not making a sound and glances inside of the hole.

"You there! Get down!" a man shouts, hearing one and then another gun cock, the whole is pitch black, the air coming out of it is cool, pursing her lips and heart hammering Lara takes a chance and pulls herself in. Making sure not to get stick with her bow on her back and angling herself to get in without trouble, her arms slipping on the rugged uneven rock that is also slippery due to the moisture of the waterfall. A gut feeling they won't fire on her, "get in there after her!" and then, "I can't! The hole is too small!"

Smiling to herself at being right, her legs slip about as her elbows plant themselves into grooves and pull her in some more for her knees to finally get in and allow her to start crawling. The cramped space of rock and a cold dampness surrounding and swallowing her whole, inching her arms forward and banging her knees and elbows onto the cold rock surface, lights come down into the tunnel.

"You've got nowhere to go! If you come out we won't shoot!" a younger man calls down and Lara smiles to herself as she pulls out her own flashlight and turns it on to see further down.

"It's bound to go somewhere!" she calls back and continues along, sticking her flashlight into her mouth and hearing what was most likely a muttered curse from the man behind her. His light turns off and she worms her way down, taking deep breaths as the tightness feels creepy, never one for confined spaces but always finding herself in them during these adventures. _Just keep moving forward_ she tells herself and the tunnel slopes downward, the toes of her boots prepared to attempt to hook herself if she starts to slide too fast.

Fingers are sliding along the rock curves and knees bouncing against each bump and curve in the rock as she goes down, the tunnel leveling itself out. She shuffles her shoulders, elbows, hips and knees forward; she can see that there is a light coming up and reaches up, taking the flashlight out o her mouth and turning it off. Glancing at her walkie-talkie she turns it off so as to not get caught by one of the others reaching out to her, moving herself along as the light invades her vision and she squints before gradually her eyes adjust.

Coming to the end of the hole there is a large team of men below and a very big room in this cave, machines are whirling about, men are working on some of them and moving rock out of the way. There is a man shouting orders in an Italian accent, taking out her binoculars she looks down and feels her heart take a flip.

Sofia is being brought in with her arms being held by two men, her heart starts beating faster in worry and then her eyes land on a familiar face, Liam is walking with the group and she watches as they set her down into a chair. "Hang in there Sofia, I'll get you out of there," Lara puts her binoculars away and starts to look for a way down.

Just below her is a large pile of boulders, they look to have been moved there by the men, "they've been here for a few days then," Lara realizes and looks around at everything else she can use. Below the boulders to the left is a tunnel leading away, curving to the right. On her right there are machines, boxes, tubing and other metal parts for support, and a box full of scraps. Watching those around on the ground, they're focus is on digging and on Sofia, she pulls herself out of the hole and slips to land on one of the boulders, planting her hands onto the large rock she looks down.

No one has noticed she's here yet, feeling the rough surface she pushes herself into a sitting position and slides herself forward to jump down onto another rock and climbs down onto a box. Lara hears a loud smack and looks below to see that Sofia was just smacked and clenches her jaw, looking ahead again she jumps onto a box and gets to the box of scraps.

Sifting through the box, Lara finds what she needs to make an explosive arrow, looking below to her left she sees that the man from earlier is in Sofia's face.

"Where is the hand of Midas?" Fernando Huites asks as he stands directly in front of Sofia. Hazelnut hair combed back, 5 o'clock shadow on his face, dark green piercing eyes, black sleeveless shirt and grey camouflage cargo pants on.

"I told you I don't know!" Sofia answers and struggles to get her wrists free.

Liam stands just behind Sofia, watching over her wrists and listens to the interrogation, remembering all too well his interrogation of Lara Croft and how she never once laid a hand on him. After everything he and his partner did to her, and here is the person that Mr. Santfur sent his people out for, or rather tried to.

Off to his right there is construction going on, he knows deep down it isn't safe but Fernando doesn't care, he has the money to keep the people going despite the dangers. He watches a couple of men from the left from the surface roll in explosive barrels and he raises his right brow at them as they set up the two to his left, and then three more men come in with a barrel each and Fernando turns around on them.

"What the heck do you think you are doing?" Fernando demands, "put them all together over there where we're working, otherwise your giving Croft an opportunity!"

Liam blinks as a light catches his eyes, and then it catches him again and he looks up to try and find the source, to his surprise Lara is up on the crates. She is pointing in two different directions; confused he glances around and sees explosive barrels on either side.

"What do you know about King Midas's golden hand?" Fernando asks and Sofia just glares up at him, she isn't afraid of this man. She just hopes that Lara doesn't do anything too drastic to save her, and knowing he is fully aware of Lara makes her that much more confident.

Fernando snaps his fingers, "bring me the water from the waterfall," he grins wickedly and Liam's eyes go wide for a split second. He would never go that far and from what he can tell she doesn't know, she might even know less than Lara, he watches as one of the men brings a large bucket filled with steaming hot water.

Sitting up so as to get as far away from it as possible, Sofia looks at it with uncertainty, "dunk her head in the water," Fernando instructs and Liam looks at him incredulously.

"Sir?" Liam says and Fernando nods and then points at the water, Liam isn't sure but he thinks he can see Sofia shaking just a tad in fear. "I don't see how this will achieve anything," he watches as Fernando pulls out his gun.

Liam closes his eyes to briefly feel the light on his eyes and opens them again to act just as the the arrows fly and two large bangs go off. He cuts the restraints quickly, "I promised," which surprises Sofia, she tries to get away but Fernando manages to grab her in the middle of the chaos.

The ground shakes and quakes, parts of the ceiling coming down, gunshots go off at Lara and she ducks and rolls to evade. Tumbling down the boxes and crates as Sofia elbows the man, kicks at him but gets shoved into the ground instead, among the chaos that the exploding barrels did he kicks her in the ribs. She grabs his leg and Lara lands on the ground with a thud, groaning she sees a swarm of more men coming into the room. The shaking stops, the debris stops coming down and the air finally clears up as she gets to her hands and knees she looks up to see Fernando, she assumes, grabbing Sofia by her hair and pulls her to kneel before him, his gun primed on her head.

"Hold your fire! Lara Croft," his voice softens, "My you do know how to make an entrance!" he laughs and jabs the barrel into Sofia's neck making her cringe. "Drop your weapons!"

Lara starts to stand up and watches the seven gunmen who have their rifles and handguns trained on her, Sofia watches her. Dirt, scrapes and bruises showing on her arms, hands and face, she struggles to get out of his grip but Fernando doesn't let up, he pulls a little harder on her hair and Sofia can't stop the whimper that escapes.

Seeing this, Lara pulls off her bow and drops her handgun, knowing he cannot see her knife inside of her pants pocket, she holds both of her hands up. "Alright… you've got me," Lara says and the man motions with his head. She doesn't watch, she just knows, two men put their guns away and take each of her arms.

A wide grin spreading on his face, "yes… now to pick up where that dolt left off… where is the Golden hand of Midas?" he asks and lifts Sofia to her feet. He then shoves her to land in Liam's arms, holding her hands behind her back.

Glaring at him, "I don't know! My research pointed to here but until I see some runes, inscriptions, tablets, something that I can translate into useful information otherwise I'm stuck in the mud!"

He walks up to her and stands directly in front of her, his face just two inches from hers, he says calmly, "how do I know you are telling the truth?" he steps away and gestures to the large cavern room they are standing in. "I've been here for a couple of days, but I'm confident you figured that out already, and I haven't seen any… so what makes you," he points at her, "think that I can trust your word that you don't know anything else?"

Looking him in the eye, she swallows, "I just got here today, I know nothing of its whereabouts and if you haven't found anything… then maybe I was wrong and you spent millions of dollars on a pointless expedition," Lara answers and watches his face go red.

Walking up to her quickly he backhands her in the right cheek, stars come into her vision and she feels her whole body jerk to the side. Tasting copper in her mouth, she moves her tongue around her teeth and cheek and looks up at him, he stares her down till she spits the blood in his face, he glares back at her to grab a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his face.

"That's what I thought… ready the large bowl with fresh hot water," he calls out over his shoulder and watches Lara's eyes widen, "make that two."

Pulling and kicking in the men's arms, both Sofia and Lara struggle to get free, both of the ladies watch as two fresh tubs of very hot water are brought in. "You do realize," Lara says, "we are on top of a volcano that is heating up! We're not safe here!"

"I am well aware of the threat level in the situation!" Fernando states as he watches the one get set down in front of Lara, "which is why I must push in the most drastic ways possible to get the information I need to get what I came for and then get the hell out of here!"

With that Lara kicks her tub as hard as she can, the hot water splashing and soaking half of his pants making him scream and kick about. Lara can just make out Sofia smiling behind him, his face is beet red, a vein in his forehead is beating to his pulse and the veins in his arms are also standing out, "you are going to regret that!" he spits and turns to Sofia before pulling out a knife from his pocket.

Lara feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and a chill run up her spine while her heart rate picks up, "No… don't hurt her," she says and he storms up to her and then once next to Sofia he turns to face Lara.

His hair is becoming a mess, and his shirt is showing his perspiration under his arms and on his chest, his chest heaving as he looks to have been pushed to his limit. "Tell me what I want to know, or she dies!" he threatens and Lara pulls hard on the men's grips.

Pulling and kicking again, this time getting an adrenaline rush and fear pulling at her heart, she finally manages to pull forward a bit, the men grunting as she does so. "I told you I don't know anything more! I swear! Leave her alone!" Lara hates having to beg, but sees no other choice as she doesn't want to be the reason that Sofia is killed.

Looking down and behind herself she stomps the heel of her right boot into the man on her right's toe. He groans and releases his grip on her, the other one struggles and Fernando lets out a frustrated growl of inpatients, Lara reaches into her pocket quickly to pull out her knife just as the other man is trying to pull her towards himself and Fernando is charging for her.

The blade flips out and Lara stabs her holder in the under arm quickly, he bellows out a cry and staggers back while gripping the fresh wound, turning to face Fernando he swings his fist for her face but she ducks and tries to stab him in the abdomen. However he evades and clamps his inside of his right bicep on top of her knife hand, she pulls but cannot get her hand free, he sneers down at her and the man she'd stomped on earlier grabs her from behind. He also now has her weapons strapped on around his upper body.

"Think you can manage to hold her?" Fernando asks in irritation, the man nods and so he releases her hand, but catches it quickly before taking away her knife, "you are a slippery one," he grumbles, she pulls on the man's hands and feels him twist her right arm behind her back and shove it up towards the middle of her back. She grimaces, arching her back, feeling pinned down.

Fernando watches the one who'd been stabbed walk away to go back to the tents up top to be tended to. Sucking his tongue on his upper front teeth before stalking back to Sofia, he lifts the knife slowly and places it to Sofia's chin before trailing it down to her throat.

Sofia keeps her eyes open, feeling dread building up within the put of her stomach, and she knows that Lara is doing everything she can. Watching the man holding her obviously pinning her right arm behind her back, gritting her teeth and locking eyes with her as the cold steel of the knife is pressed to her exposed throat. Putting on her mask of a stone face, no fear, no anger, mute.

"You have pushed the final straw in my patients… say goodbye," Fernando says and brings the knife down, then pulls his arm back and Sofia feels fear well up inside of her and can see it in Lara's eyes.

"Sofia! NOOO!" Lara screams in fear and tries to pull away, but can't get out of his pin job, she watches in horror as the knife is thrust at Sofia's abdomen.

Several explosions go off, to their left, right, in the middle, the man behind Lara loses his grip and Lara stumbles to fall onto her hands and knees, her weapons falling down next to her. She grabs them and watches as rocks and debris falls from the ceiling. Looking up Lara sees that Sofia is being held back by Liam and that Fernando has fallen over and looks startled by the new predicament.

"The volcano?" Lara wonders and watches the ground open up in front of her, then the ground crumbles and cracks rushing up to her, there is no time to react as she falls through. Landing on rocks, sliding down, debris falling all around, trying to grab anything to stop herself, but she keeps tumbling, sliding several feet to fall, and hit another rock hard, it breaks and she continues to fall.

She looks below to watch as darkness then swallows her.

* * *

Please review! I want to hear your thoughts, ideas, what you like and dislike.


	11. Calculate

Her body is shaking, she doesn't know why, her clothing is clinging to her body then she feels a surge come up through her chest, something rising up in her. Propping herself up on her elbows Lara coughs up water, her body trembling as she opens her eyes finally and uses what strength she has to pull herself away from what is making her so cold. Opening her eyes, it looks to be maybe 8:00 a.m. looking over her shoulder she sees she's just come out from the river. Her hair clinging to her back and face, her fingers and elbows digging into the dirt and rock to pull herself out more.

Body physically wrecked, she looks around to find what looks to be Liam pulling Sofia out of the water, "Sof-" Lara coughs and pulls herself to her hands and knees. "Sofia…" she groans and watches Liam place his right ear to her chest, and then tilt her head back to blow air into her. Dread welling up in her chest, Lara crawls over as fast as her body will allow and drops her weapons on the rocks.

Liam places his two hands over her chest and starts pressing down, "1, 2, 3, 4," he counts and continues before giving her another breath. Lara kneels down on the other side of Sofia, taking her left hand in her hands and holds it firmly.

Water shoots out of Sofia's mouth and her chest starts jumping as she partially sits up to continue coughing water out, "Sofia! Thank goodness your alright," Lara smiles, the tightness in her chest relaxing and she looks at Liam. "What happened?"

Sofia is a little stunned to see both Liam and Lara hovering over her, feeling Lara's hand holding her hand and considering Liam is leaning over her, she connects the dots. Liam performed CPR to get the water out of her lungs. Sitting up further, she notes Lara's clothes are soaked and sticking to her body and that Lara is shivering just a bit.

He takes a seat on the rocks, propping his right knee up and letting his left leg rest on the ground, "your friend Jonah showed up, I saw him up at the entrance, he climbed up onto the rocks." Lara helps support Sofia's back, reaching into her pockets to pull out the energy bars, knowing they slept through the rest of the night without eating anything Lara doesn't want to run on adrenaline again. She hands Sofia one and takes one for herself. "Everyone was too focused on you ladies to see him coming and he fired a sniper rifle into the barrels, my bet s that combined with your attack must have made the ground shift to the point of opening up the ground. I lost track of him, saw Mr. Huites fall down but he didn't fall into the hole, I saw you."

Liam looks and gestures to Lara as the ladies take a bite from their energy bars, "the ground came apart under you, I watched you fall in and decided if I was to get your friend out of there I may as well have her go down there too," he watches Sofia nod.

Her memories rushing back to her as she listens and remembers seeing some of the same stuff, "yeah, but I grabbed your arm to try and stop myself from falling in and brought you down with me," she takes another bite, already starting to feel better with the nutrients. Looking up at him with a quizzical look, "why did you save me?"

Smirking, "I promised Lara that I would do what I could at least once to save you or her. I have fulfilled my promise," he extends his hand to the ladies.

Studying him for a moment, Lara gives a small nod and takes his hand to give a firm shake. It was Jonah who stopped Sofia from being killed when she couldn't, but if Liam hadn't pushed her to go through the hole she'd fallen through, Fernando would have more than likely killed Sofia. "Thank you for saving Sofia," her voice firm, she doesn't want to give him the wrong idea. She certainly isn't forgetting about what he did to her before, or the fact that she never tortured him in return.

Nodding in return, he knows he'll more than likely never get anything more, and he doesn't blame her. Knowing what he did to her to get information, he admires her, maybe something more if he puts the job out of his mind. His eyes widen, "wait," it hits him suddenly and he goes into one of his cargo pants pockets to pull out a zip-lock bag with paper inside of it. "I know this doesn't make up for anything, but knowing my boss and knowing you… I didn't show him these."

Unfolding a few sheets of parchment paper he holds one up at a time and Lara's eyes widen in excitement. "Oh my gosh! Where did you get this?" she takes the paper gently though excited to finally have something to work with. Sofia smirks at seeing Lara getting excited again, her eyes lighting up and a new look of hope, one step closer to their goal.

"Inside of the cave network behind the waterfall, I was sent in with two others, but the other two had zero interest so they told me to go about my business. They were meat heads," he rolls his eyes, "I found some statues, and inscriptions on these rock pillars. So I grafted them and put them away in the hopes Mr. Huites wouldn't find out. Thankfully the meatheads didn't question me when I said it lead to a pit and offered for one of them to jump down and find out where it leads," he smirks to himself, "that got the barrel of a rifle in the back of my head, but it was worth it."

Examining the writing on every page, it takes Lara fifteen minutes to decipher what it all means. "According to the writing you got, the followers of King Midas had troubles with his dying. They didn't want to give up the power of his golden hand, they wanted to keep up with the riches for their city and to keep the peace with their alliances. But once it was removed from their King, it proved to be too much, so they kept it in a secret place. That however didn't stop people from wanting to take the hand, it had been relocated a couple of times, but the last bit I got from what you got down," she looks over at the great mountain. The rushing waterfall and looks through the trees to the base. "Is that the chamber where it is hidden is beneath everything… which means it is sitting very close to where the volcano is."

The three of them stand up; Lara takes a sip of her water bottle and looks at Sofia, "You're staying behind."

Sofia balks, "excuse me? I am not staying behind-"

"I cannot risk that bastard killing you a second time," Lara looks her in the eye, but Sofia takes her hand.

"These woods, this is my backyard, this is my terrain, where I feel at home and I know you want to protect me. I can handle myself, I saw you take out Trinity's men when you first were on the mountain, and I know you can handle yourself. Please," Sofia reaches up and touches Lara's face to caress her cheek. "Do not burden yourself with undertaking this challenge on your own."

Lara studies her eyes, her features; she admits to herself she has missed this kind of touch. Seeing the determination in her eyes, the devotion to her, Lara feels her walls crumbling. Deep down she wants to tell her to stay away so she won't have to witness Sofia's life in the enemies hands again, but there's also no way of stopping her.

Closing her eyes briefly, "okay… but first I need to use the bathroom." Liam gives her a funny look, "I haven't gone in several hours thank you very much."

"On that note," Liam smiles and starts walking backwards into the woods, "I'm headed back to my camp, just gotta hope they believe my mostly true story. Take care ladies," he turns and starts to run through the woods.

* * *

Cutting slowly into the last piece of fine juicy T Bone steak, fork pinning it down before lifting the hot piece to his mouth and chewing on it. A satisfied smile on his face, Fernando Huites sits at his desk in his private tent enjoying the juicy, tender, hot meat as he the last of its taste in his mouth.

Taking a handkerchief he dabs his lips clean before pulling his chair back to swivel it to his own personal map of the cave system and the surrounding area. Finger tips tracing along the already searched areas, they've been there for more than a few days and every area is accounted for, picking up a steel pen and placing the butt end to his lips he thinks carefully.

"Either someone hasn't been honest with me… or the location of the hand is sealed off. Hidden which poses an opportunity," he taps the butt end of the pen to his chin in thought. "Blow up the mountain… hmmm I'll lose a lot of men… and I could also risk burying it more," he turns to look at the waterfall and scrutinizes it. "If you weren't a ticking time bomb I'd take my time with this, but because you are a ticking time bomb I will have to make some drastic decisions."

A man comes hurrying into his tent, "sir, we have the machine up and working that scans the rocks," he says and Fernando swivels in his chair, setting the pen down and grabbing a black leather jacket.

"How wide of a frequency can you set it to?" Fernando asks and the man gestures to outside, both walk outside to the center of camp where a slender man in black BDU's is kneeling in front of the machine of interest.

"How much range can we get out of this?" Fernando asks and the young man looks up at him.

Pushing his glasses up his nose, "I was able to boost its range to 30 feet," he answers and Fernando looks at the waterfall.

"You've got one hour," Fernando instructs, the young man looks stunned and stands up to argue, "That volcano is going off today more than likely. This means you spend one hour trying to find the location of the hand and then we start blowing up parts of the mountain, that is all I will give you."

The young man picks up the device and runs off to the cave behind the waterfall, Fernando looks around at the determined faces and then hears a scuffle coming from a tent nearby and walks over to investigate. He sees Liam shoving a guy off of him, "what happened with you?" Fernando asks and Liam looks up at him and straightens himself out.

"I fell through the hole in the cave, after the big bang went off," Liam answers truthfully and Fernando walks up to him so he's just a foot away from him, looking down at him.

"What of the girls?" Fernando asks cooly and Liam glares at the other guy near him who was just questioning him about the same thing.

Looking back at Mr. Huites, "I don't know where they are, I was knocked out in the tumble, woke up in the river alone! I just woke up like 30 minutes ago," Liam answers and Mr. Huites stands closer to him, bearing down on him.

"You didn't follow any tracks to hunt the girls down?" Fernando asks in a deeper, colder tone.

Staring up at him, "I'm no tracker, and these girls know the wilds, they know how to watch where they step," Liam answers and feels a small urge to step back, but holds his ground. His boss is almost in his face now, and he cannot tell if he is buying his story or not. Watching his eyes dart back and forth, almost as though he's watching his prey and waiting for it to make a move.

"He's lying!" the same guy from earlier accuses and Liam doesn't turn to look at him, neither does Fernando.

"It doesn't matter too much if he is," Fernando says without taking his eyes off of Liam for a second. "What matters is if he has lied to me before, I can't have dishonesty on a mission. You and I have worked together more than once and not once before have you lied to me, otherwise I wouldn't have my trinkets. So… what would cause you to lie to me now?"

Liam stares at him, feeling a chill run up his spine, making sure not to falter in his stance, "what will it take for you to believe me Mr. Huites?"

Without warning Fernando gives Liam a harsh shove into a bunch of crates, knocking them down in the process but Liam keeps himself from falling over. "What aren't you telling me?" he shoves him again and this time Liam falls into the pile of crates, "was it your torture session with Lara Croft? Did it soften you?"

Standing up quickly to get shoved back down, feeling himself getting angry as it is his only option now, "I was knocked out when her friends came to get her! Until we had her friend there was no more information I could extract from her! I have not gone soft!" He stands up and finally shoves Mr. Huites away from him. "Why did you not kill her friend before the big bang? Why did you not kill her when Lara refused to give you anything?" he demands in return and to his surprise Mr. Huites punches him in the jaw.

Stumbling and losing his stability he crashes into a desk and knocking the contents over, looking up at Mr. Huites he stands up as fast as he can while his boss moves in on him quickly. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. "Why did you go soft on Lara? Hours have gone by and you show up now? How did you fall into the hole and how did her friend get her restraints cut in the first place anyways?"

Mr. Huites face just an inch away from Liam's, his knuckles white from gripping his shirt so tightly. Liam stares at him hard, not flinching, "I'm not the one who searched her for her weapons! I thought she was contained and didn't think I'd need to make sure her hands would stay tied! Maybe she had a piece of glass in the back of her pants or in her shirt, I didn't set her free! One of your guys must be incompetent!" Liam moves in just a bit closer so his nose is pressing against Mr. Huites, his face red from forcing himself to be angry at the accusations.

"The ground was giving away! I saw you fall on your ass! The woman started to fall in and held onto me, bringing me into the hole with her! Give me a fucking break!" Liam almost shouts in his face and Mr. Huites takes a moment, staring at him, he takes a few deep breaths to calm himself and let's go of Liam's shirt.

Panting can be heard and everyone turns to look at the young man who'd gone into the mountain a little while ago, "I found it! I found the hidden room with the hand in it!"

* * *

Fingers gliding on rough rock, abdomen, hips, chest, back and butt pressed between the rock walls of the entrance she found. Not much of an entrance, the mountain having mostly closed it making the gap in the rocks quite the squeeze with Sofia moving along just behind her. She was going to try and find another way in but Lara convinced her that there was more than likely one way in and one way out, if there was another way in Fernando was going to find that.

The air is stale the further she squeezes herself in, finding small landings where the space finally opens up a bit before going back to going through another crevice. Bending her knees and using her hands to help guide herself through the narrow passages, she finally comes to a larger opening but it's primarily a ledge to walk along on the right, a gap on the left that is five feet in width or more in certain areas.

"Geez," Sofia blinks at her voice having suddenly echoed, "geez," she whispers and watches Lara put her back to the rock wall and using her hands moves along smoothly. "All of this for a hand that turns things to gold?"

Biting her bottom lip as she continues along and keeps her eyes ahead, keeping her flashlight in the path, "yeah sadly, gold can buy people a lot, when you can turn anything into gold and use it to buy and sell… Fernando Huites could become more dangerous than Trinity." Hating the idea of that happening, she glances back to see Sofia looking quite worried about this idea. "We'll get to it before him, don't worry."

"What do we do with it then?" Sofia asks and Lara pauses in her walking and purses her lips.

Before it was an adventure to find it and study how it works, to find a myth, a legend and now it's turned into finding the artifact before the bad guys again. _What if I get to it before Fernando and then he shows up… and the volcano is erupting… he has Sofia_ she shakes her head to rid herself of those thoughts. 'I'll handle it when I get there.'

"First let's find it and see what the situation is from there," Lara finally answers and continues along. After a couple more minutes the space opens up more and more, the ground then shudders and both ladies grab the wall behind them. Watching debris and dust drift down in front of their eyes.

Sofia pulls at the collar of her shirt, "it's getting warm," she comments and Lara then sees it.

A platform sits below, surrounded by emptiness, no walkway, no ladder and no rope. Just a round hunk of rock on its own, the surrounding walls hidden by the darkness, no way to tell if there's a path, tunnel or anything. On the rock looks to be a smaller rock in square shape, but they're too far to see anything more.

"Isn't this lacking something?" Sofia asks and Lara nods.

"The bad guys? A hand? The ground shaking violently to make us fall to our doom?" Lara looks back at Sofia to see a smirk on her face. The ground starts to tremble more and they both hold to the wall behind them again, when it stops Lara gets herself as close as she can to the platform of rock and pushes off from the rock behind her.

Landing easily and pulling out her flashlight to look around some more, looking up she sees several large pointy rocks above their heads. Glancing to the walls beyond she listens to Sofia land just behind her and she picks up on a couple of crevices in the wall that she could possibly squeeze through, and two passages, over six feet apart. Lara and Sofia can feel the heat raising steadily, her hands growing sweaty, but Lara isn't sure if it's the heat causing that or her feeling anxious.

Looking down at the rock piece in the middle, Lara examines it to see there is an inscription on it. Faintly in the distance she can hear footsteps echoing in the distance, her fingers hovering over the inscription. "The Golden hand of Midas, here lies the last resting place for what was considered too powerful a weapon after our beloved King Midas passed." Giving it a puzzled look, Lara glances around with her flashlight and sees on the other side of the rock where it was to be sitting is a large crack in the rock going to the edge.

"We've got a problem," Lara says and hears the scraping and scuffing sound of boots near her. Without hesitating Lara whips out her bow and arrow to aim at one of the tunnel holes and so does Sofia, aiming at the other hole, "don't come any closer!" Sofia warns ahead of Lara.

"My, my Lara… you beat me to it, but you don't have any options for getting out of here without being shot," Fernando says in the darkness, Lara moves her flashlight accordingly and manages to illuminate part of his face in the tunnel. "If you agree to hand over the hand of Midas, I shall promise to not shoot either of you."

Scoffing, pulling the arrow nice and tight, "if you shoot us when we turn around to escape, you risk us falling into the depths and forever losing the Hand of Midas," Lara informs him and hears him give a chuckle that sends shivers up her spine. The hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, she opens her mouth to make a statement but the ground shakes at their feet.

When it finally stops Fernando barks out a laugh, "my dear, this volcano is going to blow very soon, if we keep at this chatter than we're all dead. If you take off I'll shoot you down and risk losing it, you want to come away from this alive don't you?"

Lara feels a drip of sweat slip down between her breasts, beaded sweat in her hairline and sliding down her neck, she looks at Sofia. There is no way she'll be honest and tell him they don't have it.

"We'll take our chances!" Sofia says firmly and Lara lets her arrow fly, it just misses Fernando's head, as does Sofia at a mercenary she was watching but hers gets the guy in the knee. He falls and grabs his knee screaming, falling to his uninjured leg and pulling his handgun up to shoot at Sofia, but she pulls out another arrow just as a cylinder object is tossed at them.

The grenade lands in the crevice of the crack in the rock they're standing on and Lara gasps, "To the ledge!" she orders and both ladies run, the ground starts to tremble again just as the grenade goes off. The force of the explosion combined with the trembling mountain, cause the platform to crack in half and the pointed rocks above to start falling. The first chunk falling where they were standing and making the platform crumble, both of the ladies jump as fast as they can and reach.

Lara's right hand grasping the slippery ledge due to the debris and she looks behind to use her left hand to catch Sofia's right hand. Looking over her shoulder Lara watches the whole platform plummet, and then she looks up at the ledge.

"Oh no…" the place quakes again and she feels her hand sliding off with the dirt, "no, no, no!" she watches as a chunk of the rock breaks off including what her hand is on. She watches the ledge fade from her view, she doesn't let go of Sofia's hand as they fall and their bodies hit rock in the dark, tumble and finally stop with a thud.

A glowing red can be seen at the other side of the rock where they're sitting, Lara grips Sofia's hand tightly, her heart rate picking up in fear and feeling nervous. "Sofia?" Lara says and hears a small groan, "Sofia?" Lara turns and pulls out her flashlight, feeling her shirt sticking to her back and abdomen. More sweat dripping between her breasts and feeling a little grossed out by it all, and fearful knowing that if she's feeling this much heat then they're very close to where the lava is.

She uses the flashlight to finally view Sofia and see a cut on her forehead; blood going into her hairline and her eyes are closed. "Sofia!" Lara bites her bottom lip as more rock chunks land near them, one landing just next to her and she watches as ropes come dropping down the wall near her.

Her eyes darting back and forth, Lara adrenaline fueling her as she acts quickly, moving to the edge she looks below to see the lava, but it is several feet below and looks like it is just sitting. She clenches her jaw and looks up into the darkness to see flashlights looking down and what looks to be some of Fernando's men starting to descend.

Taking a deep breath Lara looks back at Sofia and her eyes land on it, the Golden hand of Midas sitting on the other side of the pointy rock that landed next to Sofia. Looking around with her flashlight again, Lara looks for any crevices, anything she can use to climb and sees some rock _maybe I can use my ice pick to climb this thing_. Looking down at the lava again she watches it closely and feels the rock tremble again, every time it is getting worse.

Looking back up Lara sees that a couple of men are still scaling down the wall, she hurries to Sofia and parts her lips, using her water bottle she pours some water into her mouth and onto her cut to see it better. Sofia stirs a little and looks up at Lara with darkened, blurred vision. She coughs and groans, "Where are we?" she asks and holds the side of her head as it starts pounding.

"Sofia, we're in trouble, and you're going to have to trust me, I have the hand here," she glances at it, unsure of actually touching it currently, "the lava is below us but it doesn't look to be rising yet. Please trust me in what I'm doing to be the right decision," Sofia looks at her confused and disoriented.

Taking a sip of her water, Lara looks at the Golden hand of Midas and reaches down to her pants, pulling as hard as her slippery with sweat fingers can she yanks off a pocket. She drops the pocket onto it and watches it turn to gold, as it happens she grabs the part that is already gold and is relieved that her hand doesn't get the affect. Holding it up in the air, the red glows of the lava below with its own natural golden colour giving it a brilliant look.

"L-Lara…?" Sofia looks at her confused as the first couple of men land on the rock about seven feet away from her. Lara looks at them determinedly, holding out the hand and watching their eyes go wide, it takes her a moment in the dark but the third man to land on the rock is Liam, Fernando is one of the first.

"You want this?" Lara asks in a firm, questioning tone and looks Fernando in the eye, watching to see how badly he wants it, the ground shaking beneath their feet. "Do you?"

* * *

Cliff hanger! I know, you hate it. Sadly I feel the end of this story is coming soon. It might be the next chapter or the one after. Please let me know your thoughts, what did you enjoy? What did you dislike? I hope your enjoying what has been going on.


	12. Tick-Tock

Her heart is hammering against her ribs fiercely, her palms are sweaty and she's afraid of dropping the hand of Midas too soon, her clothing is clinging to her body, bangs sticking to the sides of her face, slick with sweat and not the kind she is fond of. Especially when there's lava rising several feet below her, Sofia is just behind her going in and out of consciousness and now she has Fernando, Liam and another guy in front of her.

Holding the Golden hand of Midas over the edge, the ground shaking beneath her feet, "do you?" and she watches Fernando's eyes grow wide in fear.

Reaching out but standing where he is, "please, don't," he says a little breathlessly. So close to his goal and now they're risking it more than ever with the volcano below them ready to erupt.

Lara keeps it held above the edge, to make sure she keeps his attention, "good, now you're going to have your guy there bring Sofia up to safety." She looked at Liam and he nods, without question and watches Sofia try to swipe for him but her angle is off and she's got very little strength.

"Whoa hey, I'm here to help," Liam holds his hands out to assure her, he watches her eyes work to focus on him and finally she rests back and holds her head. Liam takes this chance and scoops her up into his arms, bringing her to the rope he used he ties her up with it and goes to the spare rope, "pull her up!" he shouts and starts to climb up himself, keeping an eye on her head that she doesn't hit it on the rocks.

While this is happening Lara never takes her eyes off of Fernando, the mercenary behind him is looking twitchy but stays put. Fernando's eyes locked on Lara, "now," he says in a deep tone, "what is your next term? We haven't got all day."

Lara glances up to see that Sofia is almost to the top _it would have taken me much longer just on my own; there must be a group of men up there._ Her eyes land on the mercenary behind Fernando, "get Sofia to safety first, your man behind you can go up next. As much as I'd say 'ladies first' I don't thrust any of your men to pull a fast one on me."

Nodding in understanding, Fernando looks over his shoulder at the mercenary behind him, "go, this won't take long," he says and looks back at Lara, his eyes different. Darker, he's got his mind set on something else, he is taking the hand and he's not bringing her back with him. _You've become too much of a hassle, due to the limit in transportation now I cannot afford to have you mess everything else up that I've worked so hard to achieve!_

Lowering the hand from the edge, she knows he is her only threat, he is going for the hand and he'll kill her and escape _if he can_. Lara glances down to see that the lava is rising, but slowly thankfully. "We don't have time for games," she looks back at Fernando just in time to be tackled, his right shoulder going into her stomach and her upper back hits the rock floor hard.

Releasing the Golden hand of Midas, Fernando brings his right fist back with the plan to knock her out cold, Lara's right hand searches frantically and grabs a rock near her, slamming it into the side of his face. He leans back, losing his momentum and she pulls her right leg back to kick him in the chest, knocking him onto his back, but just as she stands up quickly so does he.

In her fighting stance that Sofia taught her, Fernando grins wickedly, "you're not leaving here with that hand Lara, I won't let you!" he spits and charges to swing his fist for her head. Lara saw this coming and dodges, once he oversteps due to his momentum she spins around to kick him in the lower back. However he turns around and catches her leg. Reaching down to his hip she is startled to see him pull a knife out.

Hopping on her left leg she forces her body to give a great push off of the ground and turns her body, the same foot going up and smacking him in the back of the head. Fernando drops the knife and staggers forward a couple of feet while letting go of her foot.

Getting to her feet again, Lara takes the opportunity to grab for her ice pick on her side and freezes when she hears gunshots ring out from above. She looks up _oh no… Sofia!_ Looking at Fernando again just in time to get a solid punch to her stomach, she bends over but fights from clutching herself.

"I must admit, you've given me a run for my money, but the game is over!" Fernando says and Lara turns to face him, she sees him throw his right fist for her face. This time she dodges to the inside, brings her right arm up and elbows him in the right cheek, he staggers back so she takes a few steps up and swings her right leg out again to kick him in the chest.

Fernando took the hit, but this time doesn't stagger back, he rolls his shoulders, his face red with anger like before and before she knows it he charges and lifts his left knee. She moves to the left to avoid it but instead is hit hard by his fist to the left temple.

Lara falls onto the rock floor, her head bouncing off of it and causing her to get jarred, she groans and slowly moves to her hands and knees as she tries to get her bearing and receives a kick to the ribs. More gun shots ring out above her, placing her right palm to her forehead she pulls it away to see blood, turning her head to look up at him he is all too proud.

"You were never meant for this life, Lara Croft," Fernando spits and turns to the hand of Midas. He walks towards it on confident feet and Lara starts to get up and she sees it, the pocket she'd ripped from her own pants is gone.

Her mouth dry she coughs and stands up as the ground starts to shake violently, "Fernando don't!" she cries out.

He places his feet on the ground far apart and looks at the hand, he reaches down and she stands up as the shaking continues, "I won't let you have this," Fernando says, full of confidence as he picks it up.

Startled when his hand begins to turn, "oh no…" his eyes go wide in a panic as the gold spreads up his arm, "No! No! No!" he screams and turns to face Lara as it reaches his shoulder. Staggering around Lara watches as he loses his footing due to the shaking ground and his terrified state, she stands there and watches as he falls off the edge knowing there was nothing she could do. If she were to grab for him there is no way she could stop him from turning to full gold, and the hand is too dangerous to be brought to her own world with so much greed willing to spill blood for it.

The shaking calms down a little but not a lot, she carefully looks over the edge while listening to rocks falling behind her and she can just make out Fernando's other hand. Reaching out from the lava below, hand open and reaching and getting swallowed by the lava in seconds with no sign of the hand of Midas.

"NO!" Lara hears a scream just before she feels it, white hot pain flashes through her chest and her upper body flinches. Staggering away from the ledge due to the shaking she looks down as her heart rate begins to slow, she can hear her heart beating in her ears, her mind taking everything in slow motion, her mind takes in the arrow head sticking out from just below her right collar bone and to the left.

Subconsciously her right hand lifts for her finger tips to touch her fresh blood that drips from it and her hand starts shaking. Lara doesn't notice how her knees give out and she collapses onto her left side, her vision going darker by the second, her eyes looking around aimlessly and catch sight of a large figure jumping off of the rope dangling from the wall and kneel before her.

"LARA?" the deep voice of Jonah shouts, he touches her face to see she isn't truly with him anymore, he scoops his left arm around her waist and effortlessly lifts her from the ground and carried her to the rope as the bubbling lava reaches the ledge. "GO! GO!" Fear gripping his heart every foot that he is pulled up the wall as he holds Lara's limp body in his arm, he can feel his heart beating against his ribs, his nerves shot, terrified that she isn't going to make it.

He looks up again as the edge of the wall is coming up, Joe and Liam pulling Jonah up, he knows Sofia is safe, "is she breathing?" Liam asks and Jonah looks back at Lara as they are both lifted to the same level as the guys are. Mercenary bodies lying around on the floor around them. Her eyes flutter ever so slightly, so far very little blood is coming through, and the arrow is keeping it blocked so she isn't bleeding out.

"For now yeah, the lava is rising, let's go!" Jonah says as the place starts shaking harder. They all take off from where Fernando and his team came from, though they made a makeshift bridge to get across to the ledge where Lara and Sofia had been.

The ground and walls shaking harshly, cracks appearing and expanding into chunks of wall before their eyes as they run by. Up through the passages, Liam and Joe just ahead of Jonah, they both reach the bottom of this steep slope with rope and both of the guys run up it first. Liam spins around as Jonah reaches it and tells Joe to grab his ankles, Joe does it and Liam slides down most of the way for Jonah to pass Lara's limp body into his arms.

"NOW!" Liam yells over the thundering cave, steam shooting out of the new crevices that have formed. Joe pulls Liam up and once they're up Liam picks up Lara in bridal style and waits for Jonah to get to the top, "I need to make a run to Mr. Huites tent!"

"It won't be long before the lava catches us! It's rising faster now!" Jonah yells as he takes Lara in his arms, hating how fragile she now looks. His attention back on Liam as he takes off with Joe towards the entrance of the cave, Jonah runs, rocks and dust clouding the air as he charges through the passageway and around another corner, and another and finally comes out to behind the waterfall which has now stopped. The water is bubbling like mad, Jonah's heart is pounding, and anxious as he runs on already tired feet to the other end of the camp where the helicopter is waiting.

Joe is already at the other end, Liam has just run into one of the fancier tents, Jonah shakes his head _what is he going for? His pay?_ He wonders as he pushes him to the back of his mind. After what Liam did to Lara, he wasn't willing to forgive him just yet and he is willing to leave him behind.

He jumps over ammo cashes, waves around boxes and crates that have been scattered around, he then runs between a few sets of tents. Everything going by is dark in Lara's mind, her vision is clouded, and sound is going in and out, barely picking up on the fact that Jonah is carrying her.

The ground shakes violently and steam pours out from cracks appearing in the ground, Jonah stumbles and watches the ground start to shift, heave, and separate. He runs full out and jumps off of a ledge that is going straight up and looks below to see he helicopter just a few feet away, landing he cradles her head while doing do as he doesn't want to give her any further jolts.

Joe is sitting in the helicopter next to Sofia and Roger is in the pilot, watching from over his shoulder as Jonah climbs in and brings Lara into the helicopter. "Is that everyone?" Roger asks and lifts the helicopter to hover over the ground as it is cracking up too much. Suddenly there's a split down the middle of the waterfall, steam billows out and lava starts pouring out, spilling out from the back of the waterfall.

"WAIT!" Liam screams, running along the shifted ground, staggering, leaping and bounding relentlessly to the helicopter with a leather satchel being clutched to his right side.

Jonah grunts, seeing that Liam is almost there, "hang on, we've got one more!" he shouts and sets Lara down on the floor with Sofia rushing to kneel at her side. Sofia's eyes widen in shock at the arrow sticking out of Lara's chest, and her closing eyes. Roger is forced to lift up a little more from the ground as the ground is heaving up towards the helicopter and pulls away.

Liam sees the ground going up at an angle to the helicopter as it pulls away a bit and he runs full out up the slanted ground and jumps with all his might. Jonah moves over to the door just as Liam catches the bottom bar, he reaches down and extends his hand, "take it!" he yells and looks over his shoulder, "pull up! Get us out of here!" he yells at Roger and Roger pulls the helicopter up and steers away from the erupting volcano.

Clutching her right hand in her own, Sofia caresses Lara's cheek, "hold on Lara!" she watches tears blur her vision. Jonah helps to pull Liam in and Liam hurries to Lara's left side, opening up his satchel he pulls out a few artifacts and finally holds out an artifact that looks like a set of angel wings, white crystal and smooth.

The others all stare at it and Liam looks at Sofia, "take out the arrow or this isn't going to work," he instructs and Sofia moves Lara onto her left side, her back facing her, it breaks her heart to see her slump forward, no resistance, her body lolling around. Tears spill down her cheeks at seeing the strong woman she's come to care for greatly suddenly on the brink of death, she snaps the back of the arrow and pulls the head out from her chest.

No cry, no scream, just the faintest of grunts, and then the blood starts to spill out. Sofia feels as though an icy hand has just gripped her heart, she rests Lara onto her back and looks up at Liam to holds the artifact up.

Jonah wants to ask what it is, what he thinks he is doing and to tell him to keep it away from Lara. But judging from her current fragile condition, she looks to be on deaths doorstep, no matter what happens it can't make Lara's condition worse.

Lara barely registered the arrow having come out; she doesn't even know she is lying on her back or that she is in the helicopter. Time and place are nothing to her, she doesn't notice Sofia's hand gripping her colder hand, their voices is so distant, and they may as well be miles away. Lara wants to open her eyes, she wants to lift her head and say she'll be fine, that she's been through worse. Truth of the matter is she hasn't, no matter how many times she has been strangled, crashed in a helicopter, been buried in snow from an avalanche, swam through bone chilling, below freezing, ice cold waters to avoid being captured and drowning in a river of the same temperature.

Placing the angel wings onto her chest, the artifact glows brightly and then Lara herself glows from the chest and down. Sofia watches in shock as the blood stops immediately and the hole in her chest seals up along with the cut on her head from hitting the rock floor earlier.

Gradually the glow fades away and when it is gone Lara gasps and her eyes shoot open at the same time. Her chest heaving, her right hand reaches up to the spot where the arrow head had been sticking out from and she takes in her surroundings. Feeling the hum of the helicopter, hearing the explosive sounds of the volcano behind them erupting, looking at Sofia to see the tears falling freely from her chin and onto her own shirt. Liam to her surprise is on her left holding an artifact it looks like and he's smiling, she looks down to see Jonah and is stunned to see that he is in full tactical gear like the other mercenaries they just dealt with…

 _Jonah watched as Liam started to get pushed around in a tent by another mercenary, he shakes his head 'that guys might as well be full of lies, I don't care that he pushed Sofia into the hole after Lara. I still don't trust him. He needs to earn that and it looks like his own people are starting to no longer trust him' he smirks to himself. 'One last Frutana Corp to deal with,' and he looks back and forth between some tents._

 _He spots Fernando walking out of his tent and towards this guy working on a big block like device on the ground. Looking to his right he watches as some men start coming out of their own tents to see the commotion going on with Liam. 'Hmm if they're distracted enough then maybe I can sneak in and get some Intel on where Lara is,' he turns around and goes to the back of the tent and turns left to go around the tent that was once on his right and hurries around to see another tent not far off. It looks to be on its own with the carnage left behind by Sofia's burning of the jeeps._

 _Watching and listening carefully he stands up and walks to the corner of the tent entrance, peeking in he sees no one on first glance and steps inside. Once inside he hurries, looking at desks and seeing paper work stacked on crates and boxes, on beds._

" _Shit… none of this is going to help me," he mutters to himself and looks at a couple of beds, they've been folded up and the sheets are in packages now. "These must have been the beds of the guys who Sofia killed last night," he whispers to himself and moves to the crates there._

 _Opening them one at a time he finds BDU's, vests, molle's, goggles, holsters, the works. Wasting no time he pulls on the BDU's, thankful that he's not the only large guy whose come here. Fitting the vest to fit him and attaching the molle's to his vest accordingly, he puts a gun holster on his right hip and puts his gun into it. Smiling to himself he hears his walkie-talkie crackle to life._

 _Reaching down he turns up the volume just a tad, "Say that again," he requests._

" _The helicopter is inbound, Mr. Montour is on his way, he'll only be about 15 more minutes," Joe tells him and Jonah looks around to be sure he isn't being overheard. Instead he hears Liam and Fernando at odds with each other._

" _I've got gear on," Jonah says and pulls a helmet on with goggles to help protect his identity. "I'm going to see if I can get back into the mountain without Frutana Corp realizing who I am. Be a mole so to speak," Jonah tells him._

" _Tread carefully my friend," Joe warns and then Jonah turns the volume down to almost mute. Walking out of the tent he sees the young man from earlier running back to the tents looking breathless, no doubt Fernando threatened him to come back with results as of yesterday and Jonah walks between two tents._

 _His heart rate has accelerated, feeling very nervous and terrified that they'll find him out. Coming out to the middle of the tents out front of the steaming hot water he shudders inwardly at the sight of the dead fish on the surface. 'How do you like your fish cooked?' he wonders to himself to try and calm himself down._

 _Hearing footsteps he looks to his left to see Fernando walking out of the tent with Liam, the young man and a handful of Mercenaries, he points at Jonah, "you're coming too! At least some of you are fully geared up! What do I pay you for?" Fernando asks angrily and Jonah walks with them._

 _None of the Mercenaries giving him a second glance, they see him as one of them as they go up and around the waterfall. Everyone pulls as close to the mountain as possible to avoid being sprayed by the waterfall as they go by, one splash feels like hot oil from the frying pan._

 _Taking slow deep breaths as they follow the young man around some corners and passageways, they finally come to stop at the corner of a room. The young man points the block like machine at it and shows Fernando, beneath the rock in front of them it's a tunnel going down._

 _Placing his thumb and index finger onto his chin in thought, "we need to break this, and then to anchor down rope so we can climb in and out easily, the imagery makes it look deep. Too deep to just jump in and out of," Fernando says and he turns around to one of the other Mercenaries and takes his grenade._

 _Pulling the pin out, Fernando motions for everyone to step back and they all hurry back for cover before he tosses it to the spot. Crouched next to Liam he watches him closely as the grenade goes off and the ground beneath it crumbles into the hole, walking over a couple of them stomp their heels onto the rock to make the loosened rock fall away and have the entrance bigger._

 _Running footsteps can be heard as one of the Mercenaries comes hurrying back with rope and a steel anchor, "alright, I'm going ahead while you get this working here. I want the group of you coming with me. We have no time to waste, the volcano is going to erupt soon and I cannot risk Croft getting the artifact before me!" he turns back to the hole, kneels down and slips in followed by Liam, a Mercenary, Jonah and a few others._

* * *

 _Jonah couldn't believe it, Fernando just tossed a grenade at the ladies 'please be okay Lara, we'll get through this!' he thinks and watches Liam. The guy has a mask on, a stone mask, showing no emotion to anyone. The only thing that no one can hide right now is how hot they all are, the gear doesn't help, his BDU shirt sticking to his back and upper chest._

 _The bang goes off and he feels the whole place shake, he knows it wasn't just the grenade; the volcano is probably minutes away from going off which means they have to get out of there. Fernando comes out of his crouched hiding place, so does Liam and the three others they have with them._

 _Gritting his teeth painfully, Fernando looks around, "damn it," he mutters and pulls out his flashlight to look down and he sighs with relief, "they're down there on another level… get me two anchors, I want down there," he commands and takes a few steps back to run and jump to the ledge the girls were on, just barely making it._

" _Shit!" he turns to the others and pulls out his walkie-talkie, "bring me a platform I can use as a bridge down here, nothing fancy, make it fifteen feet long," knowing that if the ledge comes away then there's no way he'll be able to jump it and he's not going to try and figure out Lara's path while possibly running from Lava. He wants what he knows will work, quick and easy._

 _Within no time two men come down to meet them with long large boards that were used in the packaging stages of the trip and were cast aside next to one of the tents. The rappelling ropes now dangling down the ledge, Fernando looks back, "Liam you're with me, same with you," he points to another man. He obviously doesn't know all of their names or just doesn't care._

 _Jonah feels his hands getting sweaty, not just from the heat but also from feeling anxious. 'What's Lara's situation down there?' he wonders and takes his goggles off when he realizes they've grown too foggy for him to see through properly, using the back of his head to wipe the sweat off from his forehead._

" _Chillax, this will all be over soon," one of the other Mercenaries comments, Jonah looks at him and then hears Lara shouting "do you?" and he has to fight himself to stop from smiling. 'My baby bird has leverage, maybe he does have the hand after all,' he thinks and then notices the rope going tight end loose a couple of times._

" _Pull her up!" he hears Liam shout and watches the guy from a few moments ago roll his eyes and start pulling. Within minutes Sofia is pulled to the ledge with a nasty cut on her head and Liam gets to the top and checks on her._

" _What the heck are you doing man? Leave her ass over there, this place is going to explode soon anyways," the one who'd done the lifting says and Liam purses his lips, Jonah can tell he's thinking hard about what to say._

" _For now we need to keep her alive and well you moron, what if Croft and Mr. Huites both come up with the Hand of Midas? You just going to say 'oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you wanted to keep her alive so we just left her there to fend for herself," Liam retorts and the guy walks up to him and points his assault rifle at him._

" _There is no way that Mr. Huites is going to let Croft live, and you know it. What are you hiding?" he asks and then the other Mercenary comes up from below, looking back and forth and chuckles._

" _Even if Mr. Huites doesn't kill Croft," the guy smiles as he stands up, standing between Jonah, Sofia, and Liam and on the other side are the other Mercenaries. "Do the math, Croft dies then we kill Mr. Huites and take the hand for ourselves, if Mr. Huites is killed by Croft then we finish her off and still take the hand. We come back to camp saying they all fell into the lava which is rising steadily down there and we each use the hand on a few things to pay ourselves better than he was going to do. We all come out on top," he extends his hand to Liam. "I know you and I have worked with Mr. Huites for a few years now, but you've seen how he's changed, he treats us like dirt and trusts us less and less."_

 _Liam stares at him hard, weighing his options, "I can't do it Marco, you know that." He pulls out his own handgun and gets a few barrels pointed in his direction. "Drop your guns fellas, this doesn't have to end-"_

 _A gunshot goes off, Liam watches as one of the Mercenaries ahead of him falls onto his back and then more shots go off, Liam shoots Marco and the others run to take cover. Once they're in cover Liam backs up and looks at Jonah and almost jumps, "jeez when did you get here?" he asks and looks ahead, "we have to get Sofia out of here."_

" _No shit!" Jonah says and kneels down to fire off a couple more rounds to shoot one of their legs and the guy falls down onto his knee to get another bullet in the head._

 _Guns going off back and forth and finally Liam and Jonah are standing, biting his bottom lip, Liam looks around and, "I'll take Sofia up to the surface."_

 _Jonah wanted to argue, but considering what he just did to defend Sofia he is going to let it slide. Watching Liam pick up Sofia and take off. Pacing up and down the ledge, clutching his gun to himself, he pulls his helmet off and tosses it to the opening where he came out of earlier and groans in frustration._

 _What Jonah doesn't see is Marco near him grabbing for Sofia's bow that was left behind and an arrow from the quiver, his mind is on Lara and the fact he cannot help her with her fight down below and the volcano that is going to go off soon. Marco shifts himself to look down below at the fight going on between Lara and Fernando, clenching his jaw Marco stares at Lara and his slippery fingers struggle to hold the string taught._

 _Liam returns, Jonah's back to him, "she's good… shit!" Liam's eyes widen in shock when he spots Marco with the bow and arrow, pulling out his gun which is silenced he shoots two rounds into Marco's back._

 _Spinning around, Jonah feels his heart skip a beat, the arrow flies free, "NO!" he screams and they both watch helplessly as the arrow finds its mark. Wasting no time Jonah scrambles with sweaty, shaking hands to grip the rope and go down._

 _Liam watches Lara lift her hand to touch the arrow head he assumes 'it went through…'and then his own heart does a summer salt at watching her collapse as the ground shakes. Joe comes running in and kneels down next to him to watch Jonah go down._

"What's… what's going on?" Lara asks and Jonah smiles down at her, she cannot believe how good she feels. A moment ago she didn't know she'd been taken out of the mountain, everything became a foggy mess after she collapsed and to see the relived faces of everyone around her tells her that things got really bad for her.

"I thought we'd lost you," Jonah answers truthfully, "I went into one of their tents when Liam was being interrogated by Fernando and put on their gear."

"What is that thing?" Sofia asks Liam as he puts the artifacts away back into the bag.

"It's actually the first artifact that Mr. Huites found," Liam says and Lara shifts herself to sit up so her back to the wall of the helicopter. "He told me that he had no idea what it was at first and that he let this little girl from a small village hold it, it then glowed and healed her of her 2nd degree burns. I knew he brought each of his artifacts with him," he smirks, "I'm just happy I had a chance to use it in time."

Jonah looks at Liam and tilts his head to the side _his concern was for Lara… not money… he saved her life… I guess after what he did to Lara_ Jonah's eyes soften. Seeing a different side to the torturer, _risking his life to get the artifact to save hers… if she decides to give him a chance then I will too._

Sofia sits on her butt and places her left hand onto Lara's right knee, "I thought we were going to lose you, you never even flinched when I took out the arrow," she gives her knee a small squeeze and Lara takes a deep breath before closing her eyes. _I was that far gone… but not far enough not to be healed_ she looks up and focuses on the pilot's chair.

"Who's flying?" Lara enquires and Jonah stands up to tug on Roger's shirt sleeve, due to the head set being on he can't hear anything that is going on around him.

Pulling the headset off, Roger looks over his shoulder at his passengers, "hey! Nice to see your looking better…" he blinks, "whoa you… how does Lara… someone bring me up to speed," baffled as when he last saw her she was as white as a ghost with the arrow sticking out of her. Now her face is a healthy pigment and there's no indication of the arrow ever having been in her.

Lara is stunned to see it is Roger flying, she smiles, "I guess you want to hear the story?" she stands up, finding her sea legs very quickly and takes a seat in the co-pilot spot. Strapping herself in and pulling on the headset there.

Placing his hand onto Liam's shoulder, Jonah waits for Liam to look at him, "thank you," he says honestly. "Really, thank you."

* * *

It's not over yet! I really thought this was going to be the last chapter when I was finishing off Calculate, but I'm really happy I am wrong. However, the next chapter will most likely be the last one. What did you enjoy the most out of this chapter? What did you dislike? Please, review!


	13. Second Chance

Back in the mansion, have been for almost a day, Lara's been on the phone a lot, just an hour ago she finished her interview. It took place in her court yard out back on a stone bench, across from a news reporter that she contacted shortly after they returned. Knowing the public was aware of her going off on this new adventure, she wanted to have her story out as soon as she was able. Having spoken with Joe, they all agreed to a fraction of the truth. Wearing a black and white plaid shirt with the sleeved rolled up and black slacks.

" _So you ran into Fernando Huites with Frutana Corp?" the young journalist asks, short, black curly hair, round face, a checkered deep purple and grey sweater vest over a white dress shirt and navy jeans. A small camcorder sitting next to him on a tripod recording the interview from over his shoulder._

 _Sitting with her right knee on her left knee, hands' resting in her lap Lara calmly says, "Yes, he wanted to know what I knew about the Golden Hand of Midas. I was honest with him, I said until I find inscriptions, tablets, writing somewhere there I will not know where to look for it."_

 _Glancing at his notepad on his lap, "What happened after that?" he looks up at her inquisitively._

 _Smiling at him, "we went our separate ways, I finally came across a large enough crack in the lower side of the mountain that I could squeeze into. I don't know how deep I went, but I found the chamber for the hand, there was a stone pedestal in the middle of this great big round rock. However the hand wasn't there," Lara answers in the simplest of ways and in truth._

 _His eye brows rose up when she mentioned the location but no hand, "did you continue searching from there or did the volcano erupting cause you to turn back then?"_

 _Looking at the stone work in the grass for walking on before her briefly, "you know me," she looks back up at him, "I looked and the whole system around me started to shake violently. I saw the lava below, between the circular rock the hand was supposed to be on and the ledge I was standing on that the lava was rising. There was a large crack in the rock, I felt the hand must have gone down that way and using some light I saw it down below," she looks up as though recalling the memory with a smile._

" _A brilliant glow of gold, resting on a chunk of mountain rock below," she reaches her right hand up to touch her right cheek, "and my gosh it was stifling hot!" Lara looks at the journalist. "With the heat raising it was unbearably hot and I watched the hand get swallowed up in mere moments by the lava."_

 _Glancing at his notes again, leaning forward in his seat suddenly looking really anxious, "what about Fernando Huites? Where was he during all of this?"_

 _Shrugging her shoulders, "I have no idea, I never saw him again. Has there been no word of him returning home?" Lara asks doing her best to show genuine concern and the guy shakes his head. Her eyes go downcast, "the trouble with working inside of a cave and beneath your feet is a volcano ready to erupt… there can be any number of things that could have happened to him," she looks up at the journalist. "Maybe while searching the cave rock came loose and blocked his path, the water from the waterfall was boiling hot… I would have hated for him to fall into that while escaping the lava… his transportation could have fallen into the splitting ground." She hates having to lie like this, but she tells it pretty convincingly, "he could still be out there, in the wilderness."_

 _The journalist writes down some notes quickly on what she is saying, "How did you escape Lara?" he looks up at her in curiosity._

 _Smiling at this question, "my funder of the adventure, Roger Montour came with his helicopter. If it weren't for him we'd be out in the wilderness too."_

 _Chuckling to Lara, "you have no issues there after your prior adventure," he smiles from cheek to cheek at her and Lara nods._

" _You're quite right," Lara smiles back at him, "I hope to hear news about Fernando Huites soon, he was very much dedicated to finding the hand. But alas a find that I suppose should be left to history."_

 _Closing up his notebook, "right you are, thank you so much for your time with me Lady Croft, it really has been a pleasure," he extends his right hand and Lara shakes his hand in return._

Smiling to herself, she recalls that she forced Sofia to take a hot bubble bath in her jocose. Sofia didn't see the point but agreed to do it in the end.

Even though the artifact healed her, mentally everything else has fatigued her. She won't deny that she feels better being in clean clothes again, a black and white plaid shirt and dark blue jeans. A full stomach, walking out of her computer room she jumps slightly at the sight of Liam who was about to walk into the room. He's wearing a worn down, dark grey leather jacket, open with dark grey jeans and a white shirt under the jacket.

"Oh, sorry," he smiles and takes a step back, "I didn't mean to startle you."

Taking a deep breath Lara smiles, "it's alright; I assume you were coming to see me?"

Liam gives a small nod, "yes, I would like to offer my services to you," at this Lara raises her right brow and folds her arms across her chest. Smiling and holding his hands up, "not like that, unless it is necessary of course. No I am offering services to be a personal body guard and to help you on your future adventures."

She regards him closely, "after you left Fernando Huites, how do I know you won't turn your back on me?"

Taking a deep breath, "I can explain that, you see he hired me to be part of his personal guard after he found the healing artifact. He was just like you, wanting to discover and show the world the hidden secrets of the world, to study them, excreta," Liam starts to explain the history of ex boss. "He did so much research on that artifact, barely finding a thing on it so he named it The Hand of the Light Angel. However," he raises his right index finger, "Mr. Huites never brought it to the public's attention for one major fear," Lara looks at him confused now but intrigued.

"If there is a set of wings that can heal, what if there is another set of wings that can take life? If that's the case the other set of wings could be the next black plague and he'd be responsible for it, so he kept it a secret. However," gesturing his hands up palms facing up, "finding the next artifact didn't help him in the end, finding others who are willing to pay a pretty penny in the black market for it. He found greed," he frowns, "I watched him change from being an honourable man to someone who no longer cared about the loss of life, instead tossing money out to get the next big buck for his back pocket."

Sighing, he rubs the back of his neck, "I have a conscious," he looks at Lara, "I feel really bad for the things I was paid to do to you. I've tortured others for Mr. Huites, every one of them talked within minutes of starting, but you," he looks at her. "You stood your ground to protect what you felt was valuable and you couldn't bare to have it go into the wrong hands." His eyes soften, "I admire you Lara Croft, I really do and your ideals. I wish to protect you and your mission to-"

He stops when Lara lifts her right hand to stop him from talking, she studies him and then finally extends her hand to him, "consider yourself hired, and thank you," she offers a small smile and he takes her hand to give her a firm shake.

"No, thank you," Liam smiles in return and releases her hand.

"I'll have Winston get a room prepared for you," Lara says and Liam beams at her, putting his hands into his jacket pockets before she continues along in the hallway. She notices he is following her and she smirks, "I'm going into the bathroom for some alone time with Sofia, if you don't mind."

He chuckles, "don't mind at all," he winks, "but I'll get my stuff then, get your house geared up to my specs for protection," he winks and then continues along, she smiles at him and continues and turns to the bathroom door.

Giving a light knock, "Sofia, you awake?" Lara asks softly and she can hear Sofia giggling.

"Yup! I left the door unlocked," Sofia answers and Lara finds herself blushing. Turning the handle to meet an elegant room, special moldings on the upper walls in gold with white tile, a large shower stall in the left corner close to the door, enough to fit four people comfortably. Across from the shower stall, is the toilet with the sink to the right of it next to the door and at the back is a very long and wide jocose tub. Golden brown trim long the edge of the tub and bronze faucet, the tub looks to be almost filled with pink bubbles and Sofia's head is sticking out of it with her hair wet back, a couple of bubbles on her head.

Lara closes and locks the door behind her, "you look cozy," Lara comments and Sofia gives off a small purr.

"Oooooh I am, but I'd be happier if you joined me," Sofia says in a sultry voice which has Lara blushing a deep pink.

Walking to the jocose, "how can I refuse such a request?" Lara asks and places her hands onto the tile that is thankfully dry. She kneels down and folds her arms across the tile and smiles at Sofia. "But there's a problem," she picks up a chunk of bubbles with her index and middle fingers, and watches Sofia.

"You're over dressed," Sofia quips and Lara giggles before blowing the bubbles at Sofia who laughs in return.

"There is that, yes," Lara says and crouches lower to start unbuttoning her shirt for Sofia to pout.

"Wait… I don't get to watch you undress?" Sofia says with the best pout she can muster.

Grinning, "no, I think not," Lara answers, to her surprise Sofia sits up in the water, the bubbles and water sliding down her shapely body and making Lara blush rose red.

Without warning, Sofia positions her knees in a way to anchor herself in the water to ensure she won't budge and reaches out to quickly grab Lara by her under arms and lift her up and over the edge. This earns a good squeal of surprise from Lara before she put into the water before Sofia, chunks of bubbles going into the air and drifting every which way.

Now soaked, her clothes clinging to her, Lara kneels before Sofia and crosses her arms before breaking into a smile. Unable to force a frown, "I did not see that coming," Lara admits and starts to undo her shirt.

Before she knows it Sofia is helping her, undoing the bottom ones and once the shirt is undone and being pulled off, Sofia undoes Lara's pants. Forcing her to lie back on a built in seat that allows the user to recline in the water. Gasping as before she knows it she feels her pants being yanked off with her socks, her heart is steadily picking up its pace in the excitement, the water sloshing up to Lara's cheeks, getting the majority of her hair soaked.

Getting hot pretty quickly, though Lara isn't sure if it is due to her arousal for Sofia or the hot water, she reached around her own back to undo the clasp to her bra, but has Sofia move up her body quickly. Her arms around Lara in no time, she plants a kiss onto her lips while her fingers undo the bra. Lara quickly pulls it off and tosses it aside before returning the kiss properly and placing her right hand onto the back of Sofia's head, left hand going around her back.

She missed this, after all the drama they had been through recently she missed being intimate with her. Lara moans into the kiss when she feels Sofia's hands sneak up to massage her breasts as they make out.

Deciding to take charge, Lara uses her left hand to push off from her seat and turns them both so Sofia is beneath her. The water sloshes around them, bubbles jump up and drift onto the floor or onto the tile, Lara kisses Sofia again with passion, and she can feel herself burning with desire for Sofia. She wants her now.

Lara's fingers grazing down Sofia's body, she slithers her way down her body, kissing her everywhere she can, Sofia feels behind her to notice another seat in the water that is higher up and just to the side. She smoothly lifts herself to sit on it as Lara continues to place tender kisses on her hot, wet skin. Sofia watches and feels herself getting hotter by the second; she reaches down and gently cradles the back of Lara's head. She parts her legs when Lara gets there and Lara looks up as her as she takes hold of her left leg and gives the inside of her thigh a kiss, this elicits a soft moan from Sofia. She places another kiss to her inner thigh getting closer to her core, if Sofia wasn't so hot from the water her skin would have broken out with goose bumps.

Looking at her core, drying from no longer being in the hot water, but wet with her arousal, Lara presses her lips to her and sucks on her lips. Sofia gasps and moans, her head falls back and she has to force her arms to keep her in a sitting up position.

Feeling and tasting her juices on her lips and on her tongue, Sofia cannot believe the pleasure coursing through her entire being, she allows her arms to gradually go down. Her back touching the cold counter tile, but her mind is on Lara and not her cold back. Her sucking on her pussy and she gasps at feeling Lara's hand on her left breast, finding her nipple hard and erect, Lara massages and rubs the breast while playing with her nipple.

Sofia squirms and thrusts her hips into Lara's hungry mouth, Lara digs her tongue between her folds of her pussy, lapping up her juices and sending wave after wave of pleasure through Sofia. Lara pins her clit between the roof of her mouth and her tongue and runs her tongue across the erect pearl causing Sofia to nearly convulse in pleasure. Sofia grits her teeth and arches her back; Lara continues to toy with her erect nipple while sucking on Sofia's clit.

Lara feels Sofia buck her hips again and then explode with her orgasm; Lara watches her body shake and ride out the waves of pleasure. Smiling to herself, Lara's happy that she was able to cause Sofia to feel that kind of pleasure, after a short period of time Sofia's chest stops heaving and she notices there is no longer any water in the jocose. And she's clean between her legs, she looks up at Lara stunned, seeing her on the bath rug.

Wearing one of her bath robes, Lara smiling down at Sofia, "sorry, I didn't want to take you away from your cloud nine," Lara admits and Sofia climbs out to push herself into Lara. Forcing Lara to walk backwards into the wall, Sofia places her right hand around Lara's shoulder and onto the wall behind her, left hand on the back of her neck. Moving her arms to go around Sofia's neck loosely, Sofia lightly pulls on her neck to kiss her passionately and deeply.

After a few moments Sofia pulls away from the kiss and smiles at her, "I'm not done with you just yet," she grins and Lara blushes. "And I need to be forward with you," Lara now looks at her quizzically, "I won't be staying… as much as I want to… I've given it a lot of thought and being back in the wilderness made me realize how much I miss it. I didn't want to end this on a sad note and I hope-"

Lara silences her with a kiss, after a couple of seconds she smiles warmly at Sofia, staring into her beautiful eyes. "My world isn't for everyone and I know what you mean… a lot of the time I feel more at home out there than I do here… you got to experience it and I got to have you here with me," she retracts her right hand to caress Sofia's cheek. Feeling the warmth, smoothness, she watches Sofia melt to her touch. "Right now all I want to do is enjoy my time with you before you leave," with that Sofia leans in and kisses her again.

Moving both hands between them, Sofia opens her robe to expose her slender, mouth watering body. Her eyes taking in the sight makes Lara blush, but this time she doesn't feel shy about it. "Let's move this to the bedroom," Sofia suggests and Lara pulls the robe back on, Sofia picks up the spare and slips it on.

Both are blushing madly as they step out of the bathroom, Winston, Liam and Jonah are nowhere in sight. Within seconds of stepping into Lara's room, Lara turns to face Sofia and is a little stunned by her crouching briefly to take Lara by her waist and lifting her off the floor. On instinct Lara wraps her legs around Sofia's waist and Sofia stands up straight, her hands moving down to Lara's rear and easily holding her to herself.

Cupping Sofia's face, Lara kisses her and Sofia returns the kiss, melting into it and then she parts her lips while pivoting her head and Sofia moves her tongue into Lara's mouth which is met immediately by Lara's invading tongue into her own mouth. She happily sucks on her tongue while she walks Lara to her bed at the other end of the room, feeling Lara's breasts pressed into her own, her lips feeling like velvet against her own. Sofia wouldn't deny if someone suggested that Lara is a drug to her, she loves the way her body wraps around her own and sits in her hands, the way her fingers touch her face and back, how her cheeks go rosy when her eyes feast on her beauty.

Sofia lifts her right knee onto the mattress, and effortlessly lifts herself and Lara onto the bed. Moving up to the pillows she sets Lara down. Smiling down at her, Sofia reaches down and takes the edge of the robe from just above Lara's breasts and opens it slowly. She watches Lara's cheeks go redder as Sofia pulls the robe open at her legs as well and she giggles softly at Lara reaching up and opening her robe as well at the same spot.

"I have a surprise for you," Sofia grins devilishly, Lara parts her legs as Sofia almost lies herself on top and places her lips onto hers. As she does this Sofia reaches up to the pillows and under the one to her left, her fingers finding a hidden object and feeling around it once it is out she manoeuvres it between Lara's legs without her knowing.

She presses the object to her opening and Lara's eyes shoot open, Sofia smiles into the kiss and pushes it in easily while Lara gasps into the kiss. Lara had no idea that Sofia went out and got a sex toy of all things, nor when she did this, but her mind is brought back to the present when Sofia switches it on. Lara feels the toy start vibrating lightly, then stronger and then really strong and the head to roll about in circles inside of her.

Pulling away from the kiss, Sofia watches Lara trembles beneath her, feels her hips buck and listens to her breathing hitch, "oh my gosh… when did-" Lara cannot finish the question as Sofia starts to move the dildo in and out of her slowly.

"While you've been busy on the phone and then went out for your interview, I had Jonah take me out. I've never seen a guy blush so badly when looking at the sex toys and discussing what you might like more," Sofia lowers herself to take Lara's right nipple into her mouth, finding it hard upon touching it with her tongue.

Sucking on her nipple as Lara's chest raises and falls quickly, Lara's back arches in want to the attention on her breast, her whole body is blushing, her hips continue to buck to Sofia's thrusts. Sofia lowers herself and runs the tip of her moistened tongue over her left erect nipple, Lara feels her nerve endings get electrified and travel to every pleasure spot in her.

Writhing beneath Sofia, her mouth a gap in awe at what Sofia is making her feel and what she's doing, Sofia grins to herself, takes the nipple in her mouth and sucks on it and lightly rubs her teeth on it before releasing it. Lowering herself more and doing to her what Lara had done earlier and kissing down her body that is now glistening slick with sweat everywhere she can, while continuing to thrust the dildo at a gradually increasing speed.

Staring up at the ceiling, Lara lets out a cry and sits up when Sofia takes her moist and plump clit into her mouth and starts to suck, she reaches down to place her hands onto Sofia's head and runs her fingers through her locks. The added stimulation, her heart pounding in her chest, her whole body flushed, she feels her orgasm surge through her. Falling onto her back she moans loudly and writhes as her head swims in the rolling pleasure her that her body is riding through.

Sofia however isn't ready to let up just yet, she pulls the dildo out of Lara and to Lara's surprise she feels her tongue sliding up her slit to her clitoris before diving into her opening. Placing her right hands thumb against her extremely sensitive and tender clitoris post orgasm, Sofia massages it vigorously to have Lara sit up again briefly to cry out. Her hips bucking, Lara whimpers, moans and writhes while she feels Sofia's tongue lapping up her pleasure and exploring her.

Lara's eyes roll into the back of her head, arching her back she convulses with her second orgasm and screams as her body writhes in ecstasy. Sofia grins to herself after she's taken in and cleans her face before placing her hands onto either side of Lara and climbing back up her body, Lara wastes no time once she's recovered enough to grab the back of Sofia's head, sitting up she kisses her and pulls Sofia down on top of her. Sharing a tender, loving kiss, Sofia reaches up to caress Lara's left cheek while Lara slides her fingers into Sofia's hair on the back of her head and smiles into the kiss.

Pulling away a little, "what brought that on?" Lara asks, her face still flushed and Sofia strokes her cheek.

"I truly thought I was going to lose you Lara… you risked everything to get me out alive," a tear wells up in Sofia's left eye. "I'm not usually sentimental about these kinds of things, but I remember watching you stand defiantly… and then to see you getting carried into the helicopter with the arrow head sticking out of your chest." Sofia looks down at where she knows it was and lightly touches the spot with her left index finger before looking up and locking her eyes with Lara's. "When we got back, I wanted to show you how much you mean to me… even though I'll be going."

Moving her right index finger to trace along Sofia's upper lip and then lower lip, Lara looks into her eyes, "in my eyes you won't be gone… I will be because you'll be where I want to be. With you out there… I will call you on a special line I'll get set up." She then takes Sofia's left index finger and raises it to her lips, feeling her heart rate calm down, she kisses her finger, "I'm not going anywhere," Lara smiles at her, "I have just hired Liam as my body guard. He won't let anything happen to me," to this Sofia smiles and blinks, her tear rolling down her cheek for Lara to wipe away with her thumb.

Looking Sofia in the eye she smiles at her with confidence, "I'm going to be sticking around, so get used to it."

The End

* * *

What did you think? I really hope you liked it, please tell me your thoughts and if you'd like to see a sequel. I've got some ideas but I want to hear your thoughts. What all did you enjoy? What did you dislike?

This story and chapter was finished on Friday February 19th at 11:05p.m.


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